Forgotten Souls
by Ajm3665
Summary: An AU where Angel decides to save Fred in the Deeper Well instead of allowing Illyria to take control of her body, but not everything goes as planned and there are dangerous consequences. This is my first story so please read and review! I own no characters or any plot except my story.
1. Chapter 1

**As I said, this is my first story so reviews, good or bad, are completely welcome. This first chapter is kind of short, but they may usually be longer. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!**

Angel stared at Drogyn. He was willing to do it, and he didn't give a damn about the consequences. Fred was an amazing girl, a good person, and she did not deserve to die. He was willing to do anything to save her, even if it meant the lives of thousands, as it apparently would.

"You know the risks?" Drogyn asked Angel and Spike. Spike was a little ways away, still staring down at the gargantuan hole that led all the way to the other end of the world. _Of course I know the bloody risks, _Spike thought to himself. _Stupid, no good, truth telling ponce._

Angel was ready to do it; save Fred, even if it meant the near death to thousands. According to Drogyn, to save Fred the Old One Illyria would have to enter every person between L.A. and the Deeper Well and she would kill them all. There would be no survivors. Suddenly everyone would just be dead. Usually that wouldn't be a risk worth taking. Angel knew he was supposed to be a champion, someone who saved lives, not destroyed them. The world would be in shock over the sudden death of thousands. But Fred would live. And she'd hate it. She'd feel all the guilt in the world because of those deaths. She'd work it up to be her fault, her fault that Angel decided to save her and murder thousands, and she'd hate him and herself for that. Knowing Fred as he did, she wouldn't want to live after all that guilt. But Angel had lost, lost too many, and he couldn't live with losing someone he could save.

He'd lost Doyle, in the beginning. Then, later on, Cordelia, the woman he had loved. And he lost Connor—not by death, but by a magical spell that made him not know who his true father was. He had lost more (Buffy, Darla, etc.) but some of them hadn't died and the others weren't on his mind right now.

He wouldn't lose Fred. He wouldn't. He knew it was wrong to be this selfish. But he was working at Wolfram & Hart, the true definition of evil, so he deserved to be selfish. That made this okay, right? Right?

"Let's do it," Angel said quietly, so quietly that he thought Drogyn might not have heard him. Drogyn had.

Wesley held Fred close to him, as close as he could. She was freezing—literally so cold that just the mere touch of her sent millions of shocks through his body. Wes hardly noticed, though. Holding Fred, being there for her in this moment was the most important moment of his life, and he would not allow a coldness to get in the way of that. He loved her, and he wished he could save her, but the end was near. He could tell, and he hated that. So, what else could he do to help her, other than hold her? And hold her Wes would.

"Wesely," Fred whimpered, tears cold as ice running down her face. Her teeth were chattering, making it hard to speak. She didn't know what exactly was happening to her, but she was afraid, and she also knew that the end had to be near. She could feel it insider her, whatever "it" was. It was eating away at her, though, and she felt herself changing in ways she could not explain. Before it was over, she had to ask Wesley, the man she loved, something. "Could you have loved me?" the words came out terribly, shakily.

"Oh, Fred." Wes whispered. Of course he loved her. How could he not? And how would he find a way to express this?

Suddenly, before Wes had a chance to express his true feelings, Fred sat up straight and stiff as a board. Her body got a sudden burst of heat that was so quick it nearly burned Wes's skin. He backed off just a bit and Fred screeched and screamed so loud Wes almost expected all glass to break.

A bright light filled Fred's body and moved towards the top of her body. Out of her mouth shot a brilliant ball of blue light. It was so bright Wes had to shield his eyes. The bright light immediately shot out of the room, out the window. Fred sat there, slumped in Wes's arms. Her eyes were open wide, her mouth open in shock.

"I'm alive. I'm alive," she told herself again and again. But what price did Angel have to pay to save her from the evil inside her?

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to the people who reviewed before, I hope you like this chapter. Reviews of any kind are always welcome.**

"So how exactly is this going to work?" Angel asked again. He knew how it all worked—Drogyn had explained it to them—but he just wanted to hear it again. Hearing the exact words about what would happen after Illyria started coming back towards the sarcophagus just seemed like something Angel needed to hear again and again. And now, they'd done it. The sarcophagus was back here, in the Deeper Well, where it belonged, and they had done the spell that merely involved a champion, such as Angel himself, who had traveled from where it arrived to here, the Deeper Well, where it belonged. Drogyn also gathered some other ingredients, but Angel hadn't exactly paid attention to what Drogyn gathered. That didn't matter now. What mattered was that they did the spell. If Drogyn was right, Illyria was making her way back to the Deeper Well here in Cotswolds, England and murdering every person in her path.

How would it work? Would she literally kill every single person between L.A. and Cotswolds? Every person in every city would die? How could there be no survivors? Why would Illyria kill every person in every city, didn't it make more sense for her to just kill anyone who was in her way on the straight path to Cotswolds?

Angel suddenly felt very frightened, liked he'd made a mistake. Thousands would die. Thousands _were _possibly dying right now, in this instant. Had he made the right choice?

"Illyria was cast from your friend's body," Drogyn began to explain for what seemed like the billionth time. "She will be in the form of something that can maneuver quickly through all the land, jumping in and out of bodies and killing them the same way your friend was dying, only at much higher speeds. They…they probably won't feel too much pain, or even know what happened."

"But they'll be dead." Angel was grim. He'd done this. The guilt was starting to weigh on him. He was trying to do good, to make up for all the evil Angelus had caused. And instead of save a bunch of lives, he murdered thousands for selfish reasons.

If his heart could beat, it would seem to be beating a million times a minute.

"You knew the risks." Drogyn told him.

His soul. He didn't deserve it, did he? He might as well be Angelus to allow thousands and thousands to die. The Powers That Be were probably angry, extremely angry. Cordelia, if she was watching him from somewhere, would be disappointed in him.

"Every city?" Angel made sure. "She'll go to every state and every city and every town? Everyone will be dead?"

Drogyn glared at Angel, but Angel didn't notice. He was asking too many questions, though, and that was beginning to get Drogyn mad. Angel knew he didn't like questions.

"I'm not positive on every tiny little detail," Drogyn answered honestly, because he had no choice. "Illyria will kill everyone. The spell is directing her this way involuntarily, towards Cotswolds, so maybe she won't go out of her way to kill everyone in the United States. But I don't know, Angel, not for sure."

"Hell of a jailer," Spike mocked. He was standing near Angel. "Doesn't even know one of his bloody prisoners disappears and then doesn't know if this Illyria bitch will really kill everyone."

"She will kill everyone in the way," Drogyn defended himself. "I just don't know to what extent."

Something occurred to Angel. Something he should have thought of before.

"What about in L.A.?" he asked. "Will she…in L.A.?"

Drogyn sighed. "No, I don't think so. The spell was so abrupt and she was yanked from your friend's body so suddenly that the pull would have started immediately, saving some lives. How many, though, I do not know."

That meant everyone in Wolfram & Hart would be safe, like Gunn and Lorne, which was good. Of course, the evildoers who worked there would survive, also. The good outweighed the bad, Angel supposed.

But what about everyone else in L.A.? What about…

_Oh, no, _Angel thought to himself. Connor was in L.A. Gosh, he really hadn't thought this through, had he? Well, it was too late now. Angel just had to hope that Connor was in the safe area, the area where Illyria would not yet kill anybody.

Knox was lying there on the ground, knocked out cold. Gunn was standing over him, quickly contemplating what he should do with him. Gunn, of course, had no idea that Fred was now okay and Angel had done what he could to save her. What he did know, though, was something nobody else did. It was Knox, Knox's fault that the sarcophagus had arrived. He was a crazy bastard who wanted his god to infest Fred's body.

Then again, Gunn wasn't completely innocent, was he?

This was mainly his fault, if anybody else's. He needed a brain boost. He wanted to be powerful again, strong and smart. The whole package deal. He signed papers, unknowing of what they'd bring to Wolfram & Hart.

What they had brought was something that would haunt Gunn forever.

He couldn't think about that now, not anymore. He had to tie Knox up or something before he awoke. If he didn't, Knox could escape.

Gunn quickly ran to a drawer, fished around, and found some rope and some duct tape. He took a chair and brought all the objects to where Knox was lying. He lifted him up and on to the chair then bound his wrists with the duct tape and then tied him to the chair with the rope because two different things tying him down would make it harder for him to escape.

Out of nowhere, the door to the lab flung open and Harmony walked in.

"Okay, seriously, where can I get some good advice around here? I mean, does anybody care about me? I know Fred's hurt and all, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm important too! I have problems that could use some talking out. And I'm deep, you know. I'm important. I think you're all too afraid to admit that you'd be lost without me. But no one listens. And now I need advice. Gunn, you're a guy, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Gunn said, momentarily distracted. "I'm sorry Harmony, but I can't talk now. I'm busy."

Harmony stopped and pointed. "Why's he tied up?"

Anger filled Gunn's chest. "He's tied up 'cause I'm about to show him what pain really is."

"Oooh, pain, that's my specialty. Can I help?"

Lorne sat at his desk. Tears were falling down his face. He knew his Angel-cakes was probably doing his best to find a way to save Fred, but Lorne was still frightened. What if he couldn't find anything? What then? Would they lose their Fredikins forever?

He remembered how the moment Fred had sang he knew. And then when the blood spurted all over Wes's face-

Oh jeez, this was too much for him. Lorne stood up. Maybe he'd go see if Gunn and Knox had found anything useful.

Wes couldn't help himself. He kissed Fred on the mouth, powerfully. Kissing was probably the last thing she wanted to do, but Wes couldn't help himself. Fred, his Fred, was alive and Illyria was gone. He didn't know where she had gone, but he didn't care.

When he finally pulled away, he looked at Fred. Her chocolate brown eyes were open wide in a state of shock. Her mouth hung open just a little bit.

"Wesley?" she asked.

"Fred, you're alive. Alive. I don't know what happened, but he saved you. Angel and Spike saved you."

"Angel and Spike…" Fred spoke in a daze. "They saved me?"

"Yes, Fred. You're alive. You're going to be alive for a long, long time."

"What did they do?" Fred questioned, worried. "Angel and Spike—there was an Old One inside of me. How did they save me?"

Wes understood Fred's concern, but at the same time he really didn't care. He had Fred. She was alive, and that was all that mattered to him.

"Yes," Wes said.

"What?"

"I love you, Fred. I always have and always will. I've loved you since I've known you. Maybe even before that."

Fred broke her gaze away from Wes and looked up at the ceiling. She was a bit too surprised to fully comprehend what Wes was saying. She was dying; she should be dead by now. Why was she alive?

"What did they do?" she whispered. She didn't have a doubt in her genius mind that there was no way she was freed from death without a price.

Spike was glad. In his opinion, Angel had made the right choice in saving Fred. She had once saved him, and he definitely wouldn't have just walked away if Angel had said he wouldn't save Fred.

He lit a cigarette as they waited for this Illyria god or whatever to make her way back to the sarcophagus. Who knew how long this could take? It could take all damn day for Illyria to get back here, which was just insane. They needed to get back to L.A. and make sure Fred was okay.

Spike practically snickered. Since when was he like this? When did he care about a single person so much? Aside from Buffy, of course, he'd never cared so much if a person lived or died.

Oh, well. As long as he wasn't turning too soft he wouldn't mind.

Drogyn was rambling on about something or other, like usual. Spike wasn't paying attention. The bloke bothered him. Him and his stupid ability to not answer a question with a lie. In what way could that help anybody at all, to only be able to answer with the truth? Sometimes lies were just necessary.

Buffy. He couldn't just think about her, run over her name in his mind like it was nothing. And it wasn't like he had anything other to do in this hell of a place. So, he thought about Buffy.

_I love you._

_ No, you don't. But thanks for sayin' it._

Spike would always remember their last conversation and how Buffy was still unaware of how Spike was alive and well.

When he finished his cigarette, he threw it into the hole, wondering if somebody in New Zealand, on the other side, would see it fly past them.

Illyria was flying around in ball form. She did not truly know what was happening, she just knew something was not right. Before she was in a nice body that would work quite well for her, and now she was being dragged through the air like a pointless, useless puppet. She would not allow this. She would get revenge. She would fight.

Illyria dropped out of the sky. She felt the power, something dragging her to another useless human body. Buy maybe; maybe she would be able to stay into this one.

She fell from the sky and made her way to her first body, some sort of mystical force now sending her to the first person she would kill within an instant of touching. Illyria, unknowing, was still inside the L.A. border, but far enough away from the remaining members of Angel Investigations that she would do them no harm.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Connor was walking along the L.A. streets with his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Tracy. They were holding hands and laughing and smiling. They were the perfect image of a teenage couple who looked like nothing in the world could go wrong. They were in love, or at least they thought they were, because every time they broke up (which had only been two times) they had gotten back together and momentarily realized they wanted to be together forever. Both of them were seniors in high school, and Connor was in the top tenth percentile. He was getting scholarships to colleges left and right.

Tracy, on the other hand, although not an idiot, was not as bright as Connor. She wasn't an idiot, by any means, but Connor was far brighter than she could ever hope to be. Actually, she was a bit jealous of Connor's brains. He was literally perfect—he had the good looks, brains, he was tall, and, honestly, what more could a girl hope for? Tracy was willing to do anything to make this relationship work out at this point.

With all his scholarships, Connor was still deciding what college he wanted to attend. He had a wide variety of choices, and he took his time in choosing. Wherever he would go, they had a deal that Tracy would also apply to that college, and if she wasn't accepted, she would go to a different college near wherever Connor went.

"I'm serious!" Tracy called, still recovering from her previous laughter. "Jeremy is dating Lisa."

"But…but _why?"_ Connor exasperated.

Tracy giggled. "There are more important things than looks, Connor."

"Lucky for me, huh?"

"Oh, please," Tracy quipped. "You know you're gorgeous." She ran her hand through his light brown hair and they shared a brief yet passionate kiss.

Connor wanted to be with her all the time. All the time. Tracy was very beautiful—a blond with long, lustrous hair. She had a slim figure and she was a little shorter than Connor. She had huge green eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight. He could stare in those eyes forever and ever.

When they pulled apart from their kiss, Connor saw something, a light out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw what looked like a flying ball of ice-blue electricity was falling rapidly their way. It was coming so fast that Connor had no time to react.

Tracy didn't notice Connor's worried glances, and the light went into her body and she felt extremely, extremely cold, like ice had started building inside her chest. That same "ice" seemed to go through her heart, and as it stopped beating her eyes rolled backwards in her head and she fell backwards on the ground.

"Tracy!" Connor yelled, afraid.

Quickly, quicker than the normal human eye could see (although Connor still didn't know he wasn't normal), the light flew out of Tracy's body and entered Connor's, seemingly falling right through his skin like it was nothing but tissue paper.

* * *

Illyria did not comprehend. She did not comprehend, and it was making her angry! What was happening to her, what was causing this force to pull her into another nice, warm, perfectly usable human body and then rip her away so violently?

She jumped in the woman's body and knew, instantly, that the woman would die. And she did die. Illyria was correct. Illyria was always correct, even in this pitiful, hopeless form of nothingness. She could still think, though, still see somehow, despite the form she was in. It was unnatural, incorrect. Illyria did not like it, and Illyria was not something anybody wanted to make angry.

As soon as she arrived in the woman's body, it was as if she was already jumping out of it and into another body.

Illyria had killed before. She'd killed thousands, millions, and she had yet to encounter anything she could not defeat.

But she'd never been in contact with a creature such as this, an impossible creature born from two vampires, one with a soul.

Inside Connor's body, Illyria felt a pain, a stinging that she could not explain. She had never felt pain before, and she almost did not recognize the feeling. If she had had a beating heart, she was sure it would've stopped beating. It was unbearable, whatever this was she was going through. It hurt her, and she just wanted it to stop, to stop, to stop!

Connor was also feeling a sharp pain in his chest. He was distracted, somehow, because as the pain arrived, something else did, also. Flashes of images, pictures, running across his mind. Words and names he had never heard before or never took seriously before came rushing at him: Quor'toth, vampires, demons, dimensions, Hyperion, Holtz, Angel, Darla, Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, Jasmine. Along with each name a picture of that person seemed to flash into his head, along with many memories such as the stories he had heard about Wesley kidnapping him as a baby, Gunn and Fred who'd looked after him one summer while Angel, his true father, was missing, Lorne the Pylean with green skin and red horns and who could read your destiny if you were to sing for him, and Cordelia, Cordy, whom he'd gotten pregnant and she gave birth to Jasmine.

Cordy. Connor was trying to kill her, and himself when Angel showed up. And that was it. The next thing he remembered was nothing, or at least nothing to do with that life full of demons and monsters.

That was his life. His life was not this, this lie. He was not in any tenth percentile; he'd never even been inside a school in his real life. Somehow, he just knew the memories that had just come back to him were real, and the ones he had with his other "family" were fake. Everything was a lie. A lie that he now knew the truth about, because Illyria entering his body had done something to him that was inexplicable.

How? How had he believed that the other memories, the fake memories, were real? He remembered so clearly playing with his little sister as a child and arguing with her. But it was not real. His father wasn't really his father, Angel was his father. Angel, the vampire with a soul. He'd been raised in a hell dimension by Holtz.

Illyria found herself soaring out of Connor's body and into another that was less than ten feet away. This person died in a mere second, and Illyria was then flying into someone else's body, and so on and so forth. Something wasn't quite right, though. She could feel it. A part of her…well, she was not whole any more. A part of her was missing. The pain she'd felt in Connor's body had an effect on her.

Back to where Connor was standing, he didn't know what to do. He saw the people rapidly dying, but he was not feeling too good. He felt sick and weary, and not just because of the assault of memories he had gotten so quickly. Something inside of him wasn't right. He knew he should be super powerful now, strong and fast, but in reality he felt weaker than he ever had before, even when he thought he was just a human.

He was not cold. He had not fallen ill, like Fred had. Instead, he was just different. And as he slowly started stumbling away, he had no idea that his eyes had drastically turned blue with no trace of brown left in them, while everything else on his body remained the same as it had been before.

* * *

The pilot of the plane came into the Deeper Well with Angel, Spike, and Drogyn and they moved Illyria's sarcophagus in front of them, so they wouldn't be in Illyria's way and face what would happen to them if they were. They brought the pilot in because they still needed a ride home after Illyria was back.

Spike was impatient, even though he knew he had no choice in waiting.

"Tell me again how long this will take," Spike demanded. "Must we really just sit here while she kills everybody?"

"Spike, calm down," Angel said.

"Hey, you don't tell me what to do!" he stabbed a finger at Angel.

"Wait," Drogyn interrupted their little argument and took a deep breath. His eyes opened wide. "It's started. She has begun."

"Oh, sod off," Spike grumbled. "You're tellin' us it's _just _started? Just now!"

"Yes," Drogyn answered. "And she will be here soon. She will begin to advance at rates so fast, in and out of bodies each second. She will be here within twenty-four hours, most likely."

_Great, _Angel thought to himself. _Just a day. Just a day and most of the United States should be knocked out. What would happen then? How will I ever live with myself after this massacre? _

No one held the answers to Angel's silent pleas. He would have to just wait and see what happened.

* * *

"Okay, I can't stand it anymore," Lorne stormed in the lab similar to how Harmony did just minutes earlier. "I gotta know what's going on, sweeties, before I lose my mind." He stopped when he saw Gunn standing with Harmony and Knox tied to a chair. "Umm, Gunn? Why's the scientist tied up to a chair?"

"He did it," Gunn stated angrily, "and I a'int lettin' him get away with it."

"Wait, back up. What did he do?"

"He brought the sarcophagus here to get the Old One to infest Fred!" Gunn yelled, leaving out the bit where he was the one to sign the papers to bring the sarcophagus here.

Lorne didn't know how to respond.

In the chair, Knox was finally starting to stir awake

"Now we're going to hurt him. You can help us!" Harmony cheered.

"Yeah, I don't think so, Harmonica," Lorne said, shocked over the news. "I think right now I need to sit down. And I think I need a sea breeze. Yeah, a sea breeze would be nice."

A loud ringing noise came from Gunn's pocket. He took out a phone, looked who was calling, and answered it.

"Wes? What's going on? Is she okay?"

"Yes, Gunn, she's alive," Wes's voice said on the other end of the phone. "It was miraculous. But the precise details don't matter at the moment. She's alive, Gunn. Angel and Spike, they must've found a way to save her."

"Oh, thank God," Gunn gave a sigh of relief. If Fred had died…well, he'd be to blame, wouldn't he? It was his fault. And not only that, he'd be losing one of his closest friends.

"What's going on?" Lorne asked.

"Fred's okay."

The look on Gunn's face told Lorne that he was completely serious. Lorne yelped with joy and then ran up and hugged Gunn as hard as he could. Harmony, after a few seconds, joined in and they were in one happy group hug.

"Oh, I'm so happy!" Lorne squealed.

After several moments, the three pulled apart. Gunn tried to talk on the phone again, but Wes was gone, most likely spending this time with Fred. That was fine, then, he supposed.

"We should go celebrate," Lorne said. "Come on up, guys, I got some drinks up in my office."

Lorne, followed by Harmony and Gunn, started to walk away. Before they left the lab, though, Gunn turned back and looked at Knox. He was still waking up. He couldn't just leave Knox here.

"You know," he started, "someone should really watch him. You guys go, have fun. I'm gonna…I'm gonna stay here."

"Aw, are you sure?" Lorne cried.

"Yeah. Yeah, go have fun."

They left, leaving Gunn alone in the lab with Knox, who was just starting to reach full consciousness.

* * *

Fred, although perfectly okay, was not ready to get up and out of her apartment. She knew she and Wes should get back to Wolfram & Hart, but she just want ready. She wanted to stay here, for a little while longer, with Wes. Fred was the one who had told Wes to call Gunn and Lorne and tell them she was okay. She wanted to make sure no one else was worried about her, for the moment, at least.

Now that Fred was back, fully aware and everything, she was thinking over everything that had happened to her. Where the sarcophagus had come from was still a mystery to her and Wes. What Angel and Spike did to save her was still more or less a mystery.

What Wes had said to her; that was the only real thing she now understood. He loved her. He'd always loved her. Had she just been so blind not to see it?

"Ya know," Fred started, and then stopped and chuckled. "Ya know, I love you too. I'm sorry I couldn't say it before I was just…in shock, I guess. I've loved you for so long. I was just too big a goof to realize it. But…the moment I saw you, in Pylea. There was something about you. I can't really describe it, maybe because it's beyond words, or something, but I just…I love you. And I'm so glad I can be with you now."

Wes put his chin on Fred's head and let a single tear drop down his face. Fred also closed her eyes, and they laid there, holding each other in a tight embrace.

* * *

Connor was walking in the area Illyria had not hit, so there were still a few people walking the streets. He was tired, and he wasn't sure where he was going, and something was wrong. He needed to sit. Or he needed some medicine, or something.

He busted into a grocery store. A woman by the front door saw him, gasped, and walked away, obviously afraid. Connor was confused. Did he really look that bad?

Everyone he walked by gasped or looked at him very strangely. Something wasn't right. Something must be wrong. He needed a mirror.

He saw the sign for a bathroom, and he walked towards it and then entered. He walked straight to the mirror.

He saw it immediately. His eyes, they weren't brown anymore. They were blue. Ice-blue, unnaturally blue; this was why everyone was afraid. Nothing else was blue, just his eyes. He shut them, tightly, breathing heavily. He squeezed his eyes so tight it almost hurt.

And then he opened them.

The ice-blue was gone. His eyes were brown again, without a trace of blue and suddenly he felt normal again, strong again. Connor shook his head. What was going on here? Why was any of this happening? Connor stayed there, staring in the mirror, waiting.

_Kill him, _a sudden whisper exploded in his head, and he watched as his eyes seemed to flicker and turn right back to the ice-blue they were before. Connor punched the mirror in front of him and glass shattered everywhere. But suddenly, he didn't care. A grin crept its way on to Connor's face.

_Kill him, _the voice repeated. Connor knew exactly who the voice was talking about.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

"I'm hungry," a less angry Spike than before said. "I haven't had blood all bloody day, and now I'm hungry. You didn't bring any with you did you?" Angel shook his head. "Then come on, mate, you gotta be as starving as I am."

"Spike, be quiet."

"Now why do you have to have such a pissy attitude all the time?" Spike questioned, turning towards Angel. "Like it's against the law to be hungry around here."

"There's nothing to eat around here anyway," Angel rolled his eyes. They were a bit away from Drogyn and the pilot of the plane, so neither of them was hearing the conversation between Spike and Angel. They didn't see Spike as he eyed both of them with a hunger in his eyes that had to be fed. "No!" Angel said defensively. "You are not going to eat Drogyn!"

"Okay," Spike shrugged. "Wouldn't want him anyway."

"The pilot? Seriously, Spike? We do need to get home, you know, once a chunk of the world has been destroyed."

"Relax, Angel-cakes, I wouldn't kill him, just feed from him."

"Angel-cakes?" Angel frowned deeply, concerned with the reason why Spike was calling him what Lorne often called him.

"It bugs you when the Pylean does it, so I figure anything I can do to further your bothering is a win for me."

"Seriously, why are you so annoying?"

"Seriously, why do you use so much hair gel?"

"Ugh! I don't know how anybody can even spend time around you."

"I'm actually quite a delight to be around."

"Spike, please, I'm begging you. Be quiet."

Spike was quiet, but only for a minute. Then he spoke again. "I'm still hungry," he groaned.

"Fine!" Angel gave in. "Feed off the pilot if you must. But I'm warning you, Spike, do not kill him. We need him to get us back to L.A. And please, be a decent vampire for once in your life and ask him if it's okay if you feed off of him, don't be a savage animal and attack him like there's no tomorrow."

"Aren't you coming?" Spike asked as he took a few steps away from Angel.

He shook his head. "I don't feed off of humans. You know that."

"So you'd rather starve then satisfy your needs?" Spike stood there, appearing in deep thought for a moment. "You tell me how that works out for you."

With that, he walked away towards the pilot of the plane, leather coat flapping behind him.

* * *

Half of California was gone, at this point. Illyria had then gone upwards from California, wiping out all of Oregon and then most of Washington, leaving no survivors. She was on a rampage, killing humans, demons, and any other thing that stood in her way. She was now making her way up through an area of Canada, and on her way back down she'd go through Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and so on and so forth. She would work her way up and down through the United States and through Canada, and even through Mexico and South America. She'd be able to work halfway through Africa and as she was going upwards she'd go up through Spain and France, and then she'd run into England; Cotswolds, England, where the Deeper Well was and where she would be trapped. Illyria did not know what the schedule was and where she would be going. She just knew she was traveling quickly, killing hundreds of people. It didn't take that long for her to truly figure out what was happening. There was a spell she had heard of so long ago, a spell that would bring her through everyone between her and the Deeper Well and kill everyone in her path. That had to be what was happening. Well, she wasn't going to fight the death of thousands, millions maybe, so Illyria stopped fighting and just let herself jump in and out of people, murdering them within seconds, because that was everyone in the world, in any country between that useless shell called Fred and the entrance to the Deeper Well where she was being drawn to.

* * *

Gunn walked past a lab table, grabbing a single, sharp knife that happened to be lying there. It was a relatively small knife, but it seemed sharp, and that would have to do. For now.

Knox was finally awake. His eyes opened slowly and he looked at Gunn. He put on a casual smirk. "Ah, so you've tied me down? You really think that's going to help anything? It's only a matter of time, Gunn. Illyria will take over Fred, if she hasn't already."

Gunn chuckled. "You were knocked out, I guess you missed it. Fred's okay, Knox. Angel found a way to save her."

He kept the smug smirk on his face. "Mhm. You know, for some reason, I'm not buying it. And even if it is true, that changes nothing, really. Your friends will still hate you. Imagine how they'll look at you when they realize you were the one who brought the sarcophagus here, to Wolfram & Hart. They'll hate you. They'll be disgusted with you, if they aren't already."

_Don't let him get to you, _Gunn was thinking over and over.

"You can come with me, though," Knox offered. "Untie me and we can get out of here together. Come on, Gunn. You know you're no use to these people anyway. They don't appreciate anything you are. They just think you're the dumb muscle. Even with your brain boost they don't care about you. You're nothing to them."

Gunn's jaw tightened. "They're my friends."

"No, you think they're your friends. They're not."

"I love them. They love me."

Knox laughed. "Come on, who are you trying to kid?"

"What do you know? You're just a stupid, lonely, pathetic guy who worships a demon so much he planned to kill a defenseless, innocent woman to get what he wants."

Knox shook his head. Why was this guy so headstrong, so stupid? "So what are you going to do? Wait here for Angel to get back? What then?"

"No," Gunn spoke with strong force. "I'm not just gonna wait. I'm gonna hurt you, 'cause that's what you deserve."

"Excuse me?"

Gunn stepped forward with the knife and slowly ran it across Knox's arm, drawing some blood.

Knox was in pain. He kept a small smile on his face, but his eyes were screaming for help. He wouldn't give Gunn the satisfactory of making him think he was being hurt, though. No, Knox would keep a strong face.

As Gunn drew another line of blood, Knox laughed. "They'll still find out about what you did. This doesn't change anything. They'll hate you."

_That might be so, _Gunn thought, _but that ain't gonna stop me from hurting you._

* * *

"Mmm, you know, for stuff I don't find enjoyment in anymore, this is pretty good," Harmony said, taking a sip out of her champagne glass.

"I don't know how you vampires live without this stuff," Lorne shook his head incredulously, taking his own sip. "But who cares. This is a celebration! Fred's alive, Harmonica! This is cause for a party."

Harmony looked around Lorne's empty office. "This doesn't seem like a party. Nobody's here. Duh. Do you know what a party is?"

"Yeah," Lorne mumbled. "Well, when Wes and Fred come back and Angel and Spike come back and we find out what to do with Knox so Gunn doesn't have to keep watch, then we'll have a true party. For now, it's just the two of us."

They clinked glasses together and took a drink.

Harmony sighed. "I really wouldn't have minded torturing that guy with Gunn." She looked off longingly into the distance.

"We're not really about torture here, Harm."

"Lorne, we work for Wolfram & Hart."

"I meant _us. _Angel, Gunn, Wes, Fred, and all the group of us. We don't torture much."

"Yeah, well, it was Gunn's idea."

Lorne frowned, but didn't think too much about what Harmony was saying. More than likely she was just saying that so she wouldn't look guilty of attempt-at-torture. Oh, well. That was Harmony, for you.

* * *

Connor walked down the street. His eyes were blue. He didn't know, not really, because he couldn't tell, but he just _knew. _When they were blue, something was different about him. He felt like when they were blue, he was being controlled, forced into something he didn't want to do. And when they were brown, he felt free to make his own choices. They hadn't been brown in a while.

It was night, and all the lights from buildings were shining down, showing the way down the road. The road was empty, surprisingly, and Connor felt an odd comfort in walking in the middle of it.

_Kill him, _the voice inside him whispered yet again, and he felt the powerful urge inside of him to listen to everything it said.

Deep down, deep inside his subconscious, Connor knew he was being controlled somehow, but he couldn't fight it. The force was too strong, drawing him to where the voice wanted him to go.

There it was. Like a skyscraper with billions of lights shining down so bright, like the starts in the dead of night.

He recognized the building. How could he not? Everyone in L.A., in California, knew about this building, the gigantic Wolfram & Hart offices. And somehow, Connor knew who worked there. His father, Angel. Who, by the way, was the one he was being told to kill.

_Wait, _a voice, a different voice, said inside Connor's head. He knew the voice. It was his own voice, and it was telling him to stop. He couldn't go in there. He wasn't going to kill his father. Why would he ever kill his father? Well, okay, he'd tried before, but things were different now. He didn't have any desire to murder Angel.

_He is not there, _the voice screamed in his head so loud that Connor instinctively covered his ears. _We will wait._

Connor willed his own body to run into an alley. There, he sat against the wall, closed his eyes, brought his knees up to his chest, and started rocking back and forth. He was willing himself to do what he had done in the bathroom, when his eyes turned back to brown.

_What are you doing? No, no, no, stop, Connor, you must-_

Gone. Connor opened his eyes. He could feel the difference inside himself. His eyes had to be brown again. He was himself again.

He needed to get out of there. He couldn't stay here any longer. He had to get as far away from Wolfram & Hart as possible.

Connor wasn't ready to go back to the way he was before: angry, miserable, depressed, wanting to murder Angel. He'd learned a lot through his fake memories of his old family. He'd realized how happy he'd been, and how happy he wanted to be. He regretted everything he'd done to Angel. Nothing could change that, though.

Connor examined his fist. It was covered in blood and a few broken pieces of glass from the mirror. He needed to get some bandages.

_HOW DARE YOU?_ The voice boomed once again, and Connor was once again different, his eyes blue.

"I apologize," he whispered nearly unwillingly, being forced to act this way somehow. "I follow you."

_We will kill him._

"Yes," Connor said louder, more confident. "We will kill Angel."

* * *

The pilot agreed to let Spike drink from him. If it was just his choice alone, he would of ran away screaming "Hell no!" But it wasn't his choice, not really. He worked for Wolfram & Hart, and it was his instruction to give the two souled vampire champions anything they needed. And, well, one of them needed blood, so he would give the blond-haired vampire his blood.

"I'll try to make this painless," Spike said, almost as a joke. Spike and the pilot were farther inside the Deeper Well, while Angel and Drogyn were a ways away so they wouldn't have to witness what Spike was about to do.

The pilot watched as Spike's vampire face appeared and the fangs came out of his mouth. Spike grinned, stepped towards the pilot, reached down, and bit into his neck and let the warm flow of blood wash into his mouth.

After a few seconds, he pulled away, blood covering his mouth. "Tasty," he almost joked, then reached down for more.

The blood really did taste delicious, and Spike was finding it hard to stop.

Luckily, Angel decided to come check on them, to check on Spike. He saw that Spike was drinking the pilot dry.

"Spike!" he yelled, and Spike lifted his face away from the pilot's neck and allowed his real face to come back. The pilot fell to the ground and placed his hands on his bloodied, torn up neck.

"You're crazy!" the pilot yelled.

"Spike, I warned you about this!"

"Relax," Spike waved a hand in dismissal. "He'll be fine. In a few minutes he'll be able to walk again and when the time comes he can fly us home."

Angel rolled his eyes. "Still. I didn't want this kind of thing to happen."

"Why do you care so much? He works for Wolfram & Hart, he's probably evil anyway."

"No, Spike. What you did right now? _That _was evil." Angel turned and walked away, feeling like a parent scolding a child. In the back of his mind, he kind of liked scolding Spike, though. It gave him something to do, to think about other than the world.

Angel helped the pilot up and they walked away together, leaving Spike standing there, alone, wiping the remaining blood off of his face with his hands and licking it to receive all the blood he could get.

* * *

Wes had fallen asleep. Fred couldn't blame him much; it had certainly been a stressful day for both of them, for everyone. Fred wasn't sleepy, though, for some reason. In fact, she felt wide awake.

She unwound herself from Wes's arms and snuck into her living room. A part of her really wanted to call Gunn, Lorne, Spike, and Angel, all of them individually. She wanted to talk to them desperately. She wanted to know what Angel and Spike did.

Calling them now wasn't a good idea. Gunn and Lorne were probably heading to their homes, and Angel and Spike were probably heading back here. She really shouldn't bother them. She'd see them tomorrow at work, surely.

_Well that's odd, _Fred thought to herself, befuddled at the fact that she was actually looking forward to going to work tomorrow. She just wanted to see everybody again.

For now, she wasn't too sleepy, so she decided to turn on the TV and hopefully fall asleep at some point in the night. She mainly wanted it on so she wouldn't be in complete silence. She hated complete silence. It reminded her too much of Pylea, in that cave all alone all by herself.

Flinging herself on the couch, she turned on the TV. It was on a news channel.

"…and mass amounts people have fallen dead, although the number of people and the reason why is still unknown. We are trying to get into contact with other news stations to know what's going on. For more on this breaking news, here's Kathy," said a pretty woman with short brown hair.

People were dying rapidly, inexplicably? That sounded like something Angel Investigations could handle, if they were still "Angel Investigations" and not "Wolfram &Hart." Fred would have to remember what she heard on the news to tell Angel tomorrow; because suddenly she was feeling very, very tired and her eyes were drooping shut.

* * *

Connor was running. He didn't know where, he didn't know how, but he was running. He was normal again because the voice was gone and he was deciding his own actions. This time he hadn't tried to fight it, the voice just went away for a little while. He wanted to get as far away from his father's work place as possible. He knew Angel wasn't there, he was gone, but Connor was still afraid what he might do if he stayed there.

_Don't worry, we'll go back when he's home, _the voice said and Connor was forced into a stop.

_I don't want to do anything, _Connor thought to himself. He wasn't choosing what he did and did not want to do.

* * *

Illyria was killing mass amounts of people at alarming rates. All of the United States of America, with the exception of part of California, was gone. Canada was also gone, completely. Now, she was working her way through the continent South America.

* * *

Knox had blood running down both his arms and down his face caused from many deliberately-caused lacerations. When Gunn was done with that, he tore off Knox's shirt and made a slow cut across his chest.

Still, Knox laughed. "You've never tortured before, have you?"

Gunn shook his head, but not at what Knox was saying. He shouldn't be doing this. This wasn't…right. This wasn't his job to do, or his choice. Knox was bad, evil, really, but this wasn't his decision.

He dropped the bloodied knife.

"Are you done?" Knox asked.

Gunn had no answer.

* * *

Willow and Kennedy were in South America, inside the Watcher's Council headquarters that was there. They were watching things, making sure all the Slayers were training and being taken care of. They more or less ran the place, although some Watchers were helpful in helping with a lot of work Willow and Kennedy didn't do themselves.

Right now, Willow was going through some paper work. It wasn't the most fun work ever, but Willow was enjoying it, actually. It kind of reminded her of school and education and doing work and—oh, the memoires when life was so simple and she wasn't an extremely powerful witch half-running a building full of Slayers.

She was on the top floor with a bunch of Watchers, also doing some type of work.

"Willow!" a shout came when suddenly Kennedy arrived on the top floor from an elevator building, running in with some Watchers behind her.

Willow immediately jumped up and a few Watchers followed behind her. "Baby, what's wrong?" Willow asked her girlfriend.

"There's something-"

Kennedy was interrupted by a scream from a Watcher behind her. Then, he fell to the ground, dead, and then so did the Watcher next to him, and the Watcher next to him.

On instinct, Willow raised her arms, shouted a few Latin words, and a protective shield that would protect them from anything (or almost anything that Willow had ever heard of) came over Willow, Kennedy, and about three Watchers behind them.

Something hit the shield too fast for them to see and bounced off, then quickly went to the other Watchers in the room until they were all gone.

After a few minutes, when Willow thought it was safe, she put the shield down. They were safe. For now.

Willow looked around the room. Was everyone in the entire building dead?

"The Slayers…?" Willow asked slowly, not able to get the words out.

"Gone," Kennedy stated simply. "It took longer for them to die—maybe almost a minute each. That's what gave us the time to run up here to you."

Willow didn't know what to say. Something was going on here. They needed help.

"I-I'll call Buffy," the red-head stuttered nervously, and rushed off to the phone.

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

Angel sat. Drogyn was pacing nervously, for some reason, as if he knew something bad was coming, which, technically, was true. Spike sat, also, but away from Angel. The pilot was away from all of them, trying to examine the bite on his neck. It really wasn't bad, not at all, by any means, and he was far away from dying or truly being hurt. In reality, he had probably overreacted to the bite, most likely because he'd never been bitten before.

Angel was thinking about a lot of things. On the top of that list was the fact that so many people were dying this instant. He was thinking about anybody he could've hurt or harmed because of Illyria. Connor, he had to hope he was okay. And Nina, she was a good person, and Angel didn't want her to get hurt. He didn't want anybody to get hurt. Yet, he chose this path to kill so many people in order to save Fred. He hoped Fred was happy right now, spending time with Wes or with anyone she cared about, treasuring the fact that she was alive. Because tomorrow, it might be a different story. The moment she found out what he'd done…

Fred would hate him, surely. No, not hate him, maybe, but she would be extremely mad. She wouldn't understand. She may even do something drastic because she'd hate the fact that so many people died for her.

Drogyn had never done this spell before. It was spoken of, but never truly done, so Angel had no idea how much damage Illyria could do. She'd kill everyone between Fred and the Deeper Well, but would she just jump in and out of people in a straight line to the Deeper Well, or would she literally go _everywhere _in the world between Fred and the Deeper Well? Angel hoped the latter wasn't what was happening. It wasn't really up to him, though.

The repercussions would be terrible. The world—the part of the world that wasn't killed—wouldn't know how to react. How didn't Angel know that the other part of the world would be frightened and act out? What if everything went crazy and before he knew it everyone would be dead.

It'd be his fault, if everyone died. His fault. Not Fred's, not even Illyria's, and not even Spike, who just stood by as Angel made the decision to murder so many people.

Spike was a problem. He was acting very strange. What he'd done to the pilot—even if it wasn't that bad—wasn't a positive in the situation. He was a vampire and normally that would be his nature, but Spike wasn't just a normal vampire anymore. He had a soul, like Angel. Why wasn't Spike more like him?

Angel chuckled. _Yeah, because that's what I'd want; Spike to be more like me._

Then again, that would solve a few problems, wouldn't it? It would also cause a few problems. There really was no win-win situation with Spike. Even if Spike left Angel and L.A., there would be no upside because Spike would go and be with Buffy. If Buffy would want to be with Spike, Angel wasn't sure. He didn't know anything for sure, though. What if she did?

Okay, this wasn't the right time for this. People were dying and he was what, sitting here worried about his ex-girlfriend? She was always more than just an ex-girlfriend, he had to admit, but that didn't mean he should focus on her at the moment.

Spike got up and walked over towards Angel. Angel tried to look anywhere but in his direction, pretending he didn't notice and hoping Spike would go away.

Instead, Spike stopped right in front of Angel. Angel stood up, because he felt weird sitting down when Spike was towering over him. As he was getting up, he noticed Spike was shuffling nervously from one foot to the other. What was going on with him? Why was he acting so weird?

"I just wanted to apologize," Spike groaned. "For whatever the hell it's worth. I know you're mad, and you shouldn't be. I mean, you shouldn't be mad at me right now because we're really all we've got here, mate, in this well. We made a decision and we're both payin' for it."

"We both made a decision?" Angel smiled a little. "No, Spike, I made the decision. You're just…here."

"Now why would you say that?" Spike asked, taking a step back. "I'm in this as much as you are. If you said no to Drogyn, do you think I would've just let that happen and walk away? No. I care about Fred. I wanted to save her."

"You care about nothing except your precious Buffy," Angel said starkly. It was uncalled for, and he knew it. Spike cared about things. Plus it wasn't just "his" precious Buffy, Angel had loved her too. Angel just wasn't sure how to act right now.

"Oh, please!" Spike shouted. "You don't think I care that so many people are out there dying right now? Because of what you did, because of what _we_ did?"

"Well, do you?"

"Of course I do. I have a soul too, you know. I've done bad things, just like you have. And you still don't think I feel bad for them."

"You don't seek redemption for anything you did. You barely act any differently. Why should I believe that you feel bad, especially when you do things like drink from our pilot?"

Spike rolled his eyes melodramatically. "You're right."

Angel gaped. Did he hear him right? "What?"

Spike shook his head. "Angel, I feel bad. All these people dying—it weighs on my soul, too. Then the pilot—the bloody pilot—I was acting out. Can you blame me, really? I'm not the same as you. I don't react to situations the same as you. I'm different. I needed…something to distract me, even if it was just for a little while."

Angel looked down at the ground awkwardly. Spike was being really honest, for some reason. "So that's it? You were having a tantrum? Acting out?"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess. I was hungry, but I could have waited. It would have been no big deal."

"I'm sorry, now. I shouldn't have overreacted. It wasn't your fault. I get it, I really do. You're not the same. In all the time we've spent together this last year—and man, has it been a _lot _of time—I've realized you've changed. I mostly notice it with small things. But you are different, and I should know that. I don't care that you fed off the pilot. It's no big deal, really."

"Good. Don't worry; I'll keep my violent acts under control from now on. So just to clarify, we're okay?"

"As okay as we normally are."

Spike paused. "So we're not okay?"

Angel laughed just a little bit, and so did Spike. It was nice; laughing in a time like this. It seemed almost foreign. Plus, it was really bizarre to share a laugh with Spike.

"When do you think she'll get here?" Angel asked, changing the mood to very dark.

"I don't know. Within twenty-four hours that ponce said, right? So it could be any minute or in another twelve hours."

"I want to get home. I want to check on Fred."

"So do I, mate," Spike agreed. "So do I."

* * *

Harmony had left for the night, but Lorne was still there. So was Gunn, but he was down in the lab watching over Knox. Lorne decided to go check on him. He'd had a long day, as they all had, and Lorne was sure they could find someone else to watch over Knox while Gunn went home and caught some sleep.

He walked by the lab and saw Gunn was sitting down outside the door. He held his head in his hands and he seemed tired. Lorne was concerned.

"Gunn? Are you awake?"

Gunn's head snapped up and he looked at Lorne. "Oh, Lorne, hey. What-what are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come release you from your watching duties. Go home, Gunn, get some sleep. Someone else can watch over Knox and make sure he doesn't go anywhere."

"Yeah, I should go home," Gunn agreed, although he wasn't really sure he should. Knox was in there. He was hurt just a little now, and how would others react to that? How would Angel react to that? Would they care? Knox was evil and he tried to kill Fred. Surely they'd understand why he'd hurt Knox just a little.

He stood up and, with Lorne by his side, started to walk away, leaving Knox alone in the lab with almost no possibility of escaping. Once they got to an area with more people walking around, Gunn sent someone down to watch over Knox. Him and Lorne also then made their way to the security floor, and told one of the guards who watched the cameras in the lab that if Knox were to escape somehow, someway, that he should call Gunn immediately. At first the guard didn't agree, didn't care, but when Gunn slipped him some extra cash the guard suddenly didn't seem to mind.

Then, both Gunn and Lorne went their separate ways and went home. Everyone would definitely find out tomorrow what Gunn did to Knox. It wasn't much, but still Gunn felt a little guilty. He shouldn't have done anything to Knox. Should he have?

While driving a short way home, Gunn had to stop in the middle of the road when he saw there was a dead body lying there. Concern flooded up into his chest. Something was happening. Something. Or maybe it was just a freak accident. A hit and run?

Gunn decided to look into it tomorrow. He was exhausted, and at home, in his bed, seemed to be the place he should be at that moment.

* * *

Connor collapsed inside an alleyway he had never seen before. His legs were tired of moving, though, and tiredness washed over him. As he fell to the ground, his eyes closed and he was asleep. As he slept, he had immaculate dreams about Tracy and a blue woman who followed him around and spoke to him in a shaky whisper. It was spooky. And at the same time, slightly comforting.

* * *

Illyria was almost done. She could feel it. It was all almost over. She had killed so many people, and it had been delightful, but it was almost over and soon she would be back inside her sarcophagus. She would not allow that. She had to start fighting!

Unfortunately, there was nothing Illyria could do to fight it. The spell was secure, and she would be trapped inside a sarcophagus again.

She had made her way through the left half of Africa, and she was now going through Spain and France, and after that it would be over. Cotswolds, England would be right there. Illyria was not done yet. She wanted, needed, more to die. More had to die. It was not up to her.

* * *

With Cotswolds being eight hours ahead of L.A., morning had come for Angel and Spike in the Deeper Well, albeit they didn't really know it because they were in the Deeper Well. They were all being calm and standing/sitting around, waiting, when suddenly it happened.

Drogyn had some kind of reaction. He gasped and took many steps backwards. "She's near!" he yelled.

Even though they were in the safe zone, Angel, Spike, Drogyn, and the pilot still backed up farther, just to be safe. They watched the sarcophagus, waiting for something to happen.

It was at least an hour before finally, after so long, Illyria arrived at the Deeper Well, where she would luckily be held forever and never escape again. Every one of them saw Illyria enter. She still looked like a blue ball of electricity, but she slowed down almost to a halt. She was desperately fighting what was going on, what was happening. The force still brought her to the sarcophagus, though, unwillingly.

The ball that was Illyria seemed to darken in color as she started flying left and right erratically. She was trying to fight this. There was no fighting what was about to happen to her because the spell gave her no choice but be trapped inside. She was brought down to the sarcophagus and seemed to jump right in. It was as simple as that. One moment she was floating towards the sarcophagus, and the next she was just inside of it. Of course, they didn't hear Illyria's silent screams and shouts and they didn't feel the empty feeling she felt when she was shoved into the sarcophagus.

The air seemed to change. It got warmer and many feelings came up to Angel. It was done. So many people were lying dead, right now. But Illyria was trapped again. She would no longer do any harm to the world.

Drogyn sighed. "It worked."

"Damn right it did," Spike commented.

Angel smiled, despite himself. They won. They lost, but they won. In a way, this was a victory, wasn't it? Why shouldn't he be kind of happy? If an Old One had arrived, the world would be like Hell right now. So, technically, Angel did the right thing.

Even if he didn't, he had to live with the decision anyway.

He was about to say something, when suddenly something rang in his pocket. At first he was alarmed, not sure what was going on. Then, he realized it was his phone. He'd forgotten it was there. He pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It wasn't a number he recognized. He wasn't going to answer it, but it might've been Wolfram & Hart or someone who worked there, so he decided he better answer it.

"There's cell reception in here?" Spike asked almost jokingly.

"Hello, this is Angel."

Spike, Drogyn, and the pilot all turned and looked at him like he was insane. Who would answer a phone call in a time like this? Spike thought they should be celebrating, jumping up and down and cheering because of this. They got rid of a major threat to the world! In the process they killed a lot of people. Spike didn't like the sound to that. It was too late for second guesses.

"Angel?" a distinct voice that Angel recognized immediately said on the other end. Angel could never forget that voice. In his mind he pictured the blond slayer with the name of Buffy. "What is going on?"

"E-excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb, you've had to have heard. The world… Angel, a giant chunk of the world has died."

Angel didn't know how to respond. He shut his eyes.

"Angel?" Buffy said again. Finally, she heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry for calling like this, so angry sounding. This is a real emergency, though. I wish I could've called you on different circumstances. Do you know the damage that's been done?"

"No," Angel let out a wobbly whisper.

"Well, most of the United States is gone. Canada's been wiped out, Mexico has, and so has South America. I had people there. So many Slayers and Watchers." Buffy had to pause to contain the emotion in her voice. "Willow was there."

"What?! Oh my God, is she-"

"She's fine," Buffy said quietly, thankfully. "This epidemic—or at least that's what they're calling it—happened through half of Africa, too. Xander is in Africa. Don't worry; he wasn't in the half that got hit. We were so worried about him, though. And it took out a little bit of England. Giles and Faith are in London, so they were safe for the most part. Luckily Dawn and I are in Rome, where this thing didn't reach."

"Look, I'm so sorry. What do you mean the epidemic?"

"On the news, they're calling it an epidemic, like it's a disease. A disease that had no signs of being all…disease-e until it just hit them, like that." Angel couldn't see, but Buffy snapped her fingers to emphasize the point. "Then they all died. Angel, the reason I'm calling… We both know it's not some disease. Something supernatural is going on here. And remember when I said part of the United States was okay? The only part that is okay is some of California, L.A. specifically. That's why I had to call you, and I thought you'd know what was going on."

"Angel, what's going on?" Spike finally asked. "Who the bloody hell are you talking to right now?"

Spike had spoken quite loudly, loud enough for Buffy to hear who was talking.

"Was that…? No. Angel, was that Spike?"

"Look, Buffy, some things have been happening."

Spike's face dropped. "Buffy?" he whispered.

"Angel…okay, I can't handle this anymore." Buffy was definitely agitated. "First, I hear you've taken over Wolfram & Hart. If that's not a sign you're evil again, then I don't know what is."

"It's not-"

"I don't care, no offense, Angel. And now, secondly, so many people are dying and you don't seem to care."

"I care."

"A part of California is safe, though, and I found that very interesting. Something's going on there. And it's killing my Slayers and Watchers. It's killing thousands of innocent people! How could you let that happen?"

"Well, if you listened instead of accused me all of a sudden, maybe you'd understand!" Angel snapped.

For a minute, Buffy didn't speak.

Then, finally: "Angel, I have plenty of Slayers ready to come stake you because of what's going on. They think it's your fault. They think you're Angelus. And I have to say, I have no reason not to believe those claims."

"Please, I'm not Angelus. All you need to know, Buffy, is that it's over."

"It's over? There will be no more deaths?"

"Yes."

"Angel, I want to come to L.A. I want to come and see what's going on there, to see if I can help you in any way. But everyone's going crazy over here. I have to step up in my leader role."

"You sound like you've become a good leader," Angel complimented and then winced. "Not that you weren't before."

"Thanks. What I'm trying to say is I can't leave Rome now, not yet. Maybe soon. But not yet."

"Buffy, you coming to L.A. is not really necessary. I swear to you, it's under control. Many have died. I know that. But there won't be any more deaths."

"How will you deal with all of that alone? The remaining people in California will probably go crazy."

Angel looked at Spike, who was standing there, staring at Angel patiently. He thought about Wes, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne waiting for him back home. He thought of all their faces and how much he loved each and every single one of them.

"I'm not alone," he assured Buffy.

There were a few moments of awkward silence.

"Spike's alive?" Buffy finally asked.

"Yeah," Angel stated simply, unsure if there was anything else he could say to her.

"Why hasn't he made contact with us?"

"He wasn't sure how to," Angel spoke honestly. "If you want to talk to him-"

"No. No, I won't talk to him. Not yet. I need to wrap my mind around this. How is he even alive?"

"That's kind of a complicated story."

"Oh well. Angel, I've got to go. I'll call you sometime soon, though. I promise. We'll discuss this more. I…I'm sorry."

"Me too," Angel said.

Buffy was gone. She had hung up. Because of Angel's sensitive vampire hearing, in the background near the end of their conversation, some shouting was going on, and it sounded like a fight, which was probably why Buffy rushed off so quickly. She had to take care of things over there, in Rome. And Angel had to take care of things back home, in L.A.

She had cared, though. She cared enough about what was going on to call, like she should. What the world just went through was a really big ordeal.

"How was she?" Spike inquired after a minute of silence.

"She sounded okay," Angel said. "She sounded really angry, actually."

"Understandable."

"She'll call again at a more convenient time."

"Good," Spike nodded.

"We should really get going. It's safe to leave now." Angel glanced at the pilot.

"I'll get the plane ready," he said and hurried off.

Silently, Angel walked over to the sarcophagus that now held Illyria. It was hard to believe such a dangerous creature was in here. It was almost scary to be near it. This was the thing that had murdered so many people. Illyria and Angel, they were the ones. It was both their faults that so many people died, or at least in Angel's eyes that was how it was.

"Goodbye Illyria," Angel said with no sincerity once so ever and he walked past the sarcophagus, glad that thing would be out of his life for good.

* * *

Hours later, the sun was starting to rise in L.A. It shined in the window right on Wes's face and woke him up with a startle. The first thing he noticed was that his arms were empty. Fred was there before, and now she was gone. Panic overwhelmed Wes. Where was Fred? Was she okay? Was she still here? Did Illyria somehow come back and take her?

Wes jumped out of the bed and made his way into the living room. When he didn't see her right away, he could feel tears coming because she was gone and could be in danger and oh, God, what if she was hurt and what if, what if, what if-

There she was. She was lying on the couch. The TV was turned off because sometime during the night Fred had turned it off without really knowing it.

Wes looked over the couch and saw she was still asleep. Even asleep, she was still the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Her hair was sprawled all over, pointing in all different directions. Her mouth was open just a tiny bit and moving up and down just a little in the most adorable way possible. He smiled at the sight of her.

Then he realized he was being a bit strange, standing over her and watching her. He was just simply mesmerized by the sight of her.

Before he could move, her eyes slowly started to open and she saw him. She groaned and then started to stretch. "Well there's Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," she said tiredly, but with a smile.

Wes moved around the couch so he knelt on the floor on front of her. He pushed some extra hair out of her face so he could see her more clearly and she could see him. "And there's Winifred Burkle, a most beautiful sight to see."

Fred giggled. "_Please, _I probably look like a mess. I haven't changed since yesterday and my hair's a mess."

"I still think you're perfect."

Fred looked Wesley in the eye. "Do you really?"

"Yes," Wes said without having to think.

He leaned in to kiss her but she stopped him. When he gave her a confused look she smiled. "I have morning breath. Kissing will have to wait."

Wes grinned. "Fine. Then I'll go make us some coffee." He made his way into the kitchen and began searching. Finally, he found what he was looking for and started to make the coffee.

"I'm gonna jump in the shower while you make coffee in my apartment," Fred said, standing up after lying on the couch.

"Oh," Wes gasped. "I'm sorry; I guess I'm being rude. I should leave."

"No, no, I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that it's…ironic that you'd be here making coffee, for some reason." She grimaced. "I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm gonna go take a shower."

"There's no need to rush," Wes tried to tell her.

"Wes, if I don't get ready now we'll be late for work."

He took a few steps toward Fred, a look of alarm on his face. "Fred, you went through something very traumatizing yesterday. I'm sure you'd be fine to take a few days off work."

"No," she fought. "I'm not going to take time off work. I need to go back and show everyone that I'm okay and that I can function just fine."

"We already know-"

"Wesley, don't try to change my mind about this. I'm going to work today. I need to get a sense of normalcy back."

Wes raised an eyebrow. "Normalcy at our work place?"

"Well, you know what I mean. Now I'll go jump in the shower."

He watched her walk away and then went back to finish making the coffee. He heard the shower in her room turn on. He figured she was just getting in when she walked out, still clothed the same and clearly without having taken a shower. She started searching around the couch for something.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, stepping up to the couch next to her.

"TV remote. There was some story last night about people dying. I think we should check it out."

"Fred," Wesley said sternly, causing Fred to look at him. "Go take your shower. I'm sure if there's some kind of emergency we'll hear about it at work."

This time, before she could stop him, he kissed her. It was a soft, warm kiss, but when they pulled apart they both found themselves gasping for air.

"Still perfect," Wes whispered so close to her.

She knew he was right about hearing an emergency at work. Still, she couldn't help but feel like she was missing something she had overlooked. After a few seconds, Fred walked away, back into her room and into the bathroom and got in the shower.

* * *

Connor woke up. He knew within the second he was awake. Angel was on his way back to L.A. The voice in his head was getting very anxious, very excited.

"What are you?" Connor requested out loud.

_I am the god's voice. She does not know I am a part of you. We will fulfill her duty. _

"What god?"

_The Old One known as Illyria; the only god in the world that matters._

Connor felt himself agreeing, even though agreeing to this was that last thing in the world he wanted to do. "I serve Illyria," he spoke without wanting to.

To be continued…


	6. Chapter 6

The night before, after Gunn saw the body, he didn't know what to do with it. It was the body of a young woman, and she was clearly dead. He figured he could bring it to the hospital, but how much help would that really do? She was already dead. So, he brought her to a morgue that was just down the street from where he lived. No one was in there, or at least not anyone that he saw, and he laid the body down. What else could he really do? He made a mental note to go back there tomorrow to talk to somebody and find out who this woman was and why she was lying in the middle of the road, dead.

There were, of course, other bodies lying around. In Gunn's state of mind the night before, though (and the fact that not any others in the extremely short drive were laying in the middle of the road, nor where there any cars with dead people behind the wheel), he hadn't noticed.

In the morning, Gunn got dressed in a nice suit, and got ready to leave. As he was getting ready, he noticed something that was extremely strange. He didn't know what exactly was odd about the morning; he just had a feeling like something was missing. He couldn't place it.

He decided to just ignore it, and completed getting ready. As he was leaving, he finally realized what was wrong. There was no sound. He didn't have TV or a radio on, so that added to the silence, but things were more quiet than usual. Eerily quiet. Usually he'd hear a faint sound as cars passed by his place, or maybe a plane up above, or anything. Today, there was no sound.

Gunn grabbed a briefcase and hurried out the door. He rushed outside to see if maybe he was just going crazy. No, he wasn't going crazy. There was no sound. Nobody was walking by or driving by. Instead, across the street, in a direction he hadn't looked last night, he saw multiple bodies lying on the ground.

Gunn jumped in his car, and hurried to work as fast as he could because he knew something was going on, and if any place knew what it was, it would be where he worked.

* * *

Wes and Fred walked outside her apartment together. They were planning on driving over to Wes's place so he could get take a shower and get on a change of clothes.

They drove to his place, which was farther than the distance from Fred's and where they worked, and they both saw something that alarmed them both. There were bodies lying on the ground. There was a car with a body behind it that had swerved and crashed into a building. Much farther down, there was a fire that was just starting to grow.

"Wesley…?" Fred started.

"Turn around," Wes said slowly. "We need to get to Wolfram & Hart and find out what's going on."

* * *

Lorne was already there when Gunn arrived. The first thing both Lorne and Gunn had noticed when they walked in was that the building seemed empty. Not quite, there were still people walking around, but it was less full than it had been yesterday. Plus, people were freaking out, rushing around with papers in their hands and clicking at computers as if there were some type of emergency, which there was.

"Lorne!" Gunn cried, and the Pylean demon walked over to Gunn as quickly as he could.

"Oh, sugar, we've got a real problem here," Lorne said. He looked worried, more worried than he ever had before. His bizarre green suit, which was darker than his skin, was poorly thrown on himself, like he had rushed to work, like Gunn had.

"I saw bodies," he said.

"Yeah, I know. Listen, there's-"

"Gunn, Lorne!" a different cry came from the entrance of Wolfram & Hart as Wesley and Fred busted in, having sped to work due to the severe lack of traffic.

When Gunn and Lorne saw Fred, they momentarily forgot about the huge problem at hand. Lorne almost attacked Fred in a savage hug, squeezing her as tight as he could.

"Oh, Fredikins, it's good to see you! I thought—oh, jeez, I can't even say it. I'm so glad you're okay."

"It's good to see you too, Lorne. I'm okay, really, I am."

Lorne pulled away from Fred, allowing Gunn to step up and envelop Fred in his own warm hug. "I don't know what we would have done if…well, you know. I'm so happy you're okay."

He pulled away and Fred gave them both a small grin. "I'm glad to be here, with you guys. The pain was horrible, but it's done. I'm okay."

"And we couldn't be happier that she's okay. Now, I don't want to ruin this reunion, but we have an emergency," Wes got right down to business. "There are-"

"Bodies?" Gunn suggested.

"Well, yes," Wes stated plainly.

"Yeah," Lorne broke in, "and as I was just about to tell Gunn here, is that people have died. A lot more than we know." Lorne had to stop to wipe a tear away from his eye. "I just love people and I thought everything would be safe here and now here we are surrounded by so many dead bodies because…" He tried to contain himself. "Everybody's gone guys. Almost all of America excluding some of L.A. and parts of a few other cities in California. Canada, Mexico, and South America are gone. So is half of Africa and…well, it stopped in England, somewhere. That's all I know."

Gunn, Fred, and Wes had absolutely no idea what to say to this information. How was it possible? How could so many people have died? Everybody was alive yesterday. There wasn't…it wasn't possible. Wes was trying to wrap his mind around it. What could have killed so many people in such a short amount of time, and why? So many people…

"I heard about it when I got here," Lorne continued softly. "I saw a story about it on the news and I had to come here as soon as possible."

"There are no people," Wes said more to himself. When the others looked at him, though, he elaborated. "You said some of L.A. and parts of other cities survived. Then where are those people? I saw nobody alive out there."

Lorne nodded. "The small fraction of California seems to think it was some kind of disease thing. Like it was undetectable and then when it was finally detectable it was too late because all of the side effects just kicked in and they were so deadly people just collapsed. We Wolfram & Hart employees know something more is going on here, though."

"Something supernatural?" Wes asked.

Lorne nodded. "Exactly, sweetie. They haven't figured out exactly what, yet. We just have to hope they will. Until then, the remaining people in California are in a sort of quarantine. They're all staying inside, locking all their doors and windows until they know they can come out. They got these ideas from a remaining news cast that's still around."

"I need to get to work," Wes said, running a hand through his hair. "Maybe there's something in these book that would explain what…what would do such a thing. I can't believe so many people are just gone."

Fred was thinking, connecting some dots. When she was infected, everyone was alive. And when Illyria was somehow magically cast out of her body, suddenly people started dying. Could it be possible…? No, Angel and Spike wouldn't have done that, she was sure. They wouldn't have.

Gunn was thinking, also, but about something different. He wasn't just about to stand there and think it was a coincidence that in the span of twenty-four hours one of his closest friends fell ill and nearly died and then probably millions of people died soon after she was saved. Gunn didn't believe in coincidences. There had to be an explanation, and only one thing was on Gunn's mind. He wasn't thinking in Fred's direction, towards Angel and Spike. Instead, in his gut he knew whose fault this was. It had to be the same person who, hours before so many people died, attempted to let an innocent woman be possessed by an ancient, powerful demon that he worshipped. Knox.

Dropping his briefcase, Gunn started making his way towards the lab, uncaring that he was leaving in the middle of their conversation. He needed to speak with Knox.

"Gunn, where are you going?" Wesley called after him, but Gunn kept going.

"What's he doing?" Fred questioned.

"I don't know," Lorne admitted. "Should we go after him?"

Without answering, they started following Gunn as fast as they could. Fred recognized when they were going towards the lab, and she told Wes and Lorne and they hurried up.

Gunn slammed the doors to the lab open and saw that Knox was untied, but he was lying face down on the floor, unconscious. A guy Gunn didn't recognize was inside the lab, sitting on a seat with a magazine and occasionally glancing at Knox.

"What happened?" Gunn demanded to know, pushing the guy in the seat to the ground. The seat fell over also and clanked many times on the floor, making some noise.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't do nothing!" the guy shouted. "Sometime last night he went crazy and tried to escape. They had to inject him with some kinda anesthesia and put him to sleep."

"When will he wake up?"

Fred, Wes, and Lorne ran into the lab. Wes and Lorne moved towards Gunn, but Fred made her way to her unconscious worker and almost friend. She gasped when she saw cuts running up and down his arms and blood on the floor.

"I-I don't know, another hour, maybe two?" the guy who had been keeping watch answered.

"Gunn?" Fred said worriedly. "What happened to Knox?"

Gunn turned towards Wesley, Lorne, and Fred. Lorne already knew mostly about Knox, but Wesley and Fred didn't.

"Wesley, Fred," Gunn began. "There's something I gotta tell you."

* * *

Angel and Spike were in the plane, sitting in seats across from each other and facing each other, staring out the windows. It was light outside, but the windows had the same type of glass the buildings in Wolfram & Hart did, so they were safe from any sunlight. The plane was going fast, or so the pilot assured, and they were planning on arriving back in L.A. very soon.

"Are you afraid?" Spike asked, almost out of nowhere. They had been silent most of the flight home.

"Afraid of what?"

"Don't act all broody and then pretend to not know what I'm talkin' about."

Angel glared at Spike. "Afraid of what, Spike?"

"The aftermath," Spike said in an icy tone. "Are you afraid of what everybody will think?"

Angel thought for a minute. It wasn't a difficult question, really. He had to think, though. "I'm not afraid, really. I'm more worried. Especially about Wolfram & Hart. I don't know if this is what the Senior Partners would have wanted. I'm not usually concerned with the Senior Partner's wants, but they could easily punish me for this in ways I can't imagine. Of course, maybe this is what they wanted all along. They always wanted to release Angelus. I'm still Angel, but I've done more damage than Angelus ever did overall. Then again, a huge amount of our clients must now be dead."

Spike knew what Angel was saying was true. "And what about them? Are you worried about what Gunn, Percy, the Pylean, and Fred will think?"

"I think I know what they'll think."

Spike didn't ask any more questions. He had a good feeling about what Angel was going through because he was going through some of it too. He was uncomfortable with the amounts of people that had to die. It hurt him to think about it. Although he didn't have to deal with the worry that something like Angelus would come out of him, which just added more worry to Angel's mind.

In all honesty, he felt a little bad for Angel. Angel had so much more on the line, so much more to worry about than Spike did. Spike wouldn't tell him that, though. No, because Angel and Spike had a sort of relationship that they had to stick to. They argued and rarely got along. Spike felt like he wouldn't be giving Angel too hard a time for a while, though. Angel did something he wouldn't forgive himself for. Spike didn't want to have to add to his guilt, or have to be bothered by arguing with Spike, because Spike knew he would've hated to be in Angel's exact position. He'd still mess with Angel a little bit, occasionally, because he just couldn't stop himself, but he'd try to tone it down for a little while.

His thoughts turned to Buffy. She knew he was alive now, no doubt. She hadn't wanted to talk to him. That was probably bad.

"We'll be arriving shortly," a voice came out through the speakers in the plane. "Prepare for landing."

"Yippee," Spike mocked. "Almost home to the land of the dead."

"Spike, be quiet."

Spike smiled.

* * *

Connor was back in front of the Wolfram & Hart building, although he wasn't exactly sure how he got there. He didn't remember coming here, not at all. He wasn't sure what he was doing in front of the building until he saw the plane landing near. He knew without a doubt who was in that plane. For some reason he could feel him, feel his presence, and it was powerful. When he saw Angel step out, his heart nearly stopped. He felt the urge to attack him.

_There he is, _the voice inside Connor's head spoke. _Kill him._

A part of Connor, the part of Connor that was still himself, found a little bit of strength left to fight what the voice was saying. He stood there as the voice exploded in his head, telling him to attack.

Before he could, Angel and a blond headed guy stepped into the building under the shadows so as to avoid the sun.

Connor fell to the ground, weak. How had he found enough strength to fight?

_It's okay, _the voice said. _We will kill him soon._

* * *

Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and Lorne sat in Angel's office. They heard he would be back soon, and they moved up here after Gunn told them about Knox. Gunn told them everything about Knox. He left out the part where he was really the one to sign the papers to bring the sarcophagus here. He just wasn't ready to share that part. He was afraid of how they'd react, especially Wes and Fred.

Nobody had asked why he hurt Knox, even if it was just a few scars. Even if some didn't necessarily agree with what he did, they didn't have it in them to speak up about that yet. Too much information was coming at all of them in too short of time.

They sat there in silence for several minutes.

Finally, Angel came into his office with Spike behind him, and Harmony trailing behind Spike. Harmony was talking, like usual.

"…and boss, I'm so glad your back because it was a mess when you were gone. It was only for, like, a day, but still. And Blondie Bear, I guess I'm glad you're back too, although you don't have to be so rude. I mean, I thought you'd miss me and-"

"Harm, not now," Spike shushed Harmony. Angel stopped in front of the table where Fred, Gunn, Wesley, and Lorne were sitting. They also stood up, unsure of how to react.

"Fred," Angel said slowly and gave a smile. "You don't know how happy I am you're okay."

Fred moved forward and gave Angel a hug. "You rescued me again, just like in Pylea. I don't know how many times I can thank you for saving my life, despite my desire to not be the girl that always needs saving."

She let go of him and backed up a few steps. The remaining members stood there, staring.

"Not much of a happy reunion," Spike quipped to the side.

"Angel, I don't know if you've heard-"

Wes started, but Angel stopped him, knowing what he was going to say.

"I've heard. I know. In fact, I should tell you right away, because there isn't really a reason to put this off." They all looked around the room. "It's no secret that we found a way to save Fred, obviously. There was a price."

"No," Fred cried, placing a hand over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes.

Angel swallowed hard. "To save Fred, some people had to die. Everyone between her and the Deeper Well."

"Angel," Wes said, flabbergasted. He never would have thought that Angel was the reason so many had died.

Gunn was silent. What could he say? This was his fault, because he signed the papers.

Lorne simply stood there, mouth open.

"I had to make a decision," Angel went on. "I couldn't lose you, Fred. Not after everything we've been through. Not after everyone we've lost."

Fred shook her heads. Tears were streaming down her face. "You shouldn't have done that. I… Angel, are you kidding me?" she yelled. "I'm not worth this, the death of millions! Oh my God. This is what you did. Angel, how could you?"

"Fred, I'm sorry." The sincerity was astoundingly evident in his voice. "But if Illyria had escaped, we may have had a bigger problem on our hands, an apocalypse. We don't know what she may have done."

"I don't care. I can't live like this. What about all those people?" she gasped. "What about my parents, Angel? They've never done a single bad thing in their lives. What about them? Did you even think about this?"

Angel's mouth fell open. He never thought about Fred's parents. "Fred-"

"Stop! I feel…I don't know. I can't do this."

"Fred, please, he saved you," Wes said. "It may have been by unspeakable ways, but he saved your life."

"So you agree with this? With mass murder? This is not okay! How do you expect me to live with myself? How are you going to live with yourself, Angel? You've…I need to get out of here." She moved to run out of the office.

"Wait!" Gunn spoke up, speaking for the first time. Fred turned towards him and so did everybody else. "I can't just sit by and let this happen. I need to get this off my chest. First off, Fred, stop blaming Angel. This isn't his fault."

"Gunn, he-"

"I know. Just listen. Angel, Spike, there's something you don't know. Knox was the one who made plans for Illyria to come here. He was the one who wanted Fred to be infected because he thought she was the perfect body for his god. He worshipped her without a doubt in his mind." He let the information sink in for a minute. "Everyone, there's something I need to say. I haven't told you all this yet, and I can't stop now. Fred, you can't blame Angel. If it weren't for me, you would've never been infected by Illyria in the first place."

There it was. The words were out. Everyone was silent.

"What do you mean?" Angel finally had the nerves to ask.

"I was losing it. I was losing my brain power. And I needed it. You don't understand, none of you do. I finally felt like I was being useful, like I wasn't just the idiot muscle. So I wanted to be smart again. In order to get it back in my head, I had to sign some papers. I had no idea what those papers did or what they were. They were the papers that delivered the sarcophagus here. Fred, Angel, everybody, I swear I didn't know. I had no idea. I just…I wanted to be smart. I wanted to be useful."

Silence. Fred looked down at the ground, horrified. This was too much. Angel, Gunn, everybody doing things they didn't need to do. She was crying, and it wouldn't stop. She was alive, but in her place millions have died. She would never be able to live with herself, she already knew.

Wes took a step forward and before they knew what was going on, he punched Gunn right in the face.

Gunn cried out and took a few steps back, bringing his hand up to hold his face, where he was punched.

"You did this?" Wes said to him. "You were responsible and we could've lost Fred?"

Wes stepped forward again, but this time Fred yelled for him to stop. He looked up at her and saw how sad, how terrified she looked. She was visibly shaking and tears were falling down her face.

"I wasn't responsible," Gunn fought. He backed away a few steps from Wes. "I mean, I was, but I wasn't. I didn't know, okay. I never would have signed anything if I knew."

"Gunn," Angel said forcefully, stopping him from speaking. "Did it work?"

Gunn was confused. Everyone in the room was either staring at Gunn or Angel, everyone but Fred. She was looking sort of off into space, trying to think, trying to wrap her mind around this.

"W-what?"

"The brain boost. Are you as smart as you want to be?"

Gunn gulped. "Angel, I-"

"Answer the question."

"I… Yeah, I guess. I have all the information I need. Still, I never would have gotten it if I knew. You have to know that."

Angel took a few steps towards Gunn. Unexpectedly, he grabbed Gunn's clothes and lifted him off nearly a foot off the ground. "Then you better be glad she's alive." He let Gunn down with a thump. Angel turned back to everyone else. "Don't blame him for anything. His actions, however wrong they were, are not the reason so many people died. That's on me."

Wes still had an angry looked in his eyes, Angel noted. He knew that look. He'd seen it before, many times before. Wesley just didn't remember those incidences thanks to a nifty memory spell.

"I hope _you're _happy," Fred spoke up sarcastically, still crying. She was speaking directly towards Angel. "I hope you understand what you've done." Before anyone could stop her this time, she ran out of the room. Wes chased after her, determined to calm her down. He had his own feelings towards what Angel did, and they weren't all good, but on some deeper level, he was grateful. Fred was alive. That was all that mattered.

Back in the room, Angel spoke to who remained. "We have to find a way to stop some of what's going on. Along with all these deaths, there are bigger consequences. Hundreds of houses across the world are probably on fire now because of the sudden deaths. Things could've been in the oven or candles could've been lit or whatever. If we don't try to stop all of them somehow, everything could burn up, not to mention all the smoke."

"How _exactly _do you plan to stop that?" Harmony asked. "There are no more firemen anymore." They all shot her obvious looks. "What?" she shrugged helplessly. "Like I was the only one who realized?"

"Harm, I need you to go find Wes or anybody who works in his apartment. Maybe there's some kind of spell to stop fires across the world?" Angel said weakly. "Gunn, we've lost a lot of clients, no doubt. The Senior Partners are probably angry. And since you have a long-running relationship with the White Room and you have all those smarts, maybe you should go there and try to explain and calm them down, if they're angry. And Gunn?" Angel called as he started walking away. "I hope your brains were worth the pain you put them through." Gunn left. "Spike, I don't know exactly where Knox is right now or if he's even alive, but-"

"On it," Spike responded and left going to look for Knox. Gunn hadn't had the chance to explain to Angel and Spike where he was, but it didn't take Spike long to find out what happened to him. Spike would wait for him to wake up.

"What do you want me to do?" Lorne asked solemnly.

Angel walked up to Lorne. "Nothing, really. I just want to talk to you. You haven't said a word since I came back."

"It's a lot to take in, Angelcakes. First I find out you kill pretty much a huge chunk of the world and then I find out Gunn inadvertently tried to kill one of our closest friends."

"It wasn't all Gunn's fault," Angel stood up for his friend.

"I know. Now sing for me."

"What?"

"Come on, Angel, I'm Pylean, not an idiot. Although based on some of my kind, I could see why you'd confuse the two. You want something from me. You want me to read you. So what are we waiting for?"

Angel slowly opened his mouth and began singing his usual song: "Mandy" by Barry Manilow. It only took a few words for Lorne to hold up a hand and stop him.

"Hm," Lorne exhaled noisily. "Interesting." Lorne looked at Angel in the eye. "We're going on a crazy ride."

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me she thinks _Angel's _responsible for this? All-hero, redemption-seeking Angel? Did she forget who Angel is?" Faith was outraged. Giles was telling her just what he had heard from Buffy. He knew no solid facts, but Faith was getting angry anyway. "Come on, you know Angel didn't do anything."

"I don't know," Giles admitted, taking off his glasses and cleaning them with his shirt, mainly to avoid Faith's icy gaze. "Angelus did some horrid things." _One I'll always remember, _Giles thought to himself as he remembered the too-short life of Jenny Calendar.

"But he's not Angelus."

"Well, apparently we can't be sure."

"Nuh-uh," Faith crossed her arms and shook her head, blowing some dark hair out of her face. "I don't believe it," she said like a stubborn child.

Giles and Faith were in London. They heard about what happened—of course they had, the entire world knew—but they knew more than any ordinary person did. More importantly, Faith knew who _wasn't _to blame.

"Faith, Buffy-"

"I don't care what Buffy says. She's not in L.A., she doesn't know." Then Faith's face lit up, an idea forming in her mind. "Angel needs someone to defend him in all this."

"Faith, no," Giles said sharply. "We are working here. We don't have time for you to leave."

"Oh, really?" Faith tempted. "Because I thought a week ago you were informing me I had some vacation time I could catch up on."

Giles knew he'd regret saying that. "Still, you can't just leave."

"Oh, I think I can. See you later, Giles. I got a plane ticket to buy." She started to walk away.

"Are you kidding me? You think they'll let you buy a ticket to L.A.? There's an emergency going on. They won't let you in. L.A. is in some kind of quarantine state, and soon the rest of the world will be too, unless they figure out it wasn't some disease that did this."

"True," Faith thought for a second. "Then I better get to where I need to go before the world goes crazy. Tell Robin I'll be back when I can."

Giles gave up fighting. What was the point? Faith was Faith, and she'd do what she wanted.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

Lorne couldn't exactly tell Angel what was going to happen, because he didn't necessarily know. When Angel sang, though, he saw something very, very dark, something absolutely insane, which led Lorne to believe things were about to get crazy. The problem was that he wasn't sure exactly what he saw. It was odd.

After he explained this to Angel, he left Angel alone in his office.

After several minutes, anybody had yet to come back. Angel went to his private elevator and brought it up to his room. He wasn't _planning _on sleeping or anything like that. No. Far from it. There was too much to do, too much to think about. Sleeping would have to wait.

The second he sat on the bed, though, exhaustion washed over him. He hadn't slept in more than twenty-four hours. So it started with sitting, and before he knew what was happening he was falling back on his bed, asleep.

As he was asleep, he dreamt of terrible, terrible things.

* * *

"Fred!" Wesley called after her.

"Stop!" she yelled, stopping suddenly and spinning around, her brown hair flying behind her. She was running off quickly through the building, unsure of where she even planned to go. All she knew was that she needed to get out of here, get away from her so-called friends. "Stop chasing me! I need to be alone."

"Fred, I will not leave you alone."

"Why not?"

"Because you might do something stupid!" he said. A look of hurt flashed on to Fred's face. "No," Wes kept going. "I didn't mean it like that."

"_Stupid? _Stupid? What Angel did was stupid."

"What Angel did was save your life."

"I can't believe you; you of all people would be okay with this. He killed so many people, Wesley!"

"He didn't do anything, he just let it happen."

"How are you even okay with this?"

"Because you're alive!"

Both of them remained silent for a few moments after that. Neither knew what exactly could be said.

Finally, Wesley spoke again. "I don't know what I would've done without you, Fred. If you had… If she had taken over your body, what would I have done? How would I have lived without you? When I said you might do something stupid, it was because you might. I know you feel bad, horrible, even, and you don't believe everyone should have died for you. I get that. I get you, too. I know you. You can't live with yourself now, and to get rid of the pain you might feel you could do something idiotic like take a gun and-"

"I wouldn't," Fred said defiantly.

"Really? Look me in the eye and say you promise you wouldn't."

She tried to look him in the eye, but she couldn't. His gaze was too strong. She felt guilty, for some reason.

"Exactly," Wes whispered.

"He still didn't have to do it. Wesley, he…" She couldn't continue. Suddenly she burst into tears and practically fell into Wes's arms yet again. He held her in an embrace as she cried on his neck and on his shoulder. She shivered and shook, but Wes never let go of her. It was humiliating, she realized, for him to have to hold her like this two days in a row. "My parents," she spoke once she finally regained her composure just a little bit.

"I am _so _sorry."

"Wes, so many people died because of me. Angel thinks it was his fault, Gunn thinks it's his, but neither of those is true. It's my fault. They all died because of me. I'm the murderer, not Angel or Gunn or even Knox. It's just me."

"You didn't choose this. It's not your fault you got infested by a monster."

"Wes, Angel needs…" Harmony started talking when she rounded the corner and saw Wes holding Fred and talking to her softly. Wes saw her, but didn't acknowledge her. His full attention was on Fred. Harmony didn't want to interrupt the moment between the two, so she just stood there awkwardly watching them.

"Wesley, can you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"I know I'll want to do something stupid, like you said. So just stay with me. Stay with me and don't let me do something I'll regret." She began to cry again.

"Of course," Wes said and leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Neither of them was going to pretend that suddenly, because of their little conversation, all their problems were solved. No, Fred still felt guilty, like it was her fault. Wesley still felt happy she was alive but was still weighing the thoughts of what Angel did on his mind. They both knew it'd be a long time before Fred was okay, and they both knew she still would hate the fact so many people died essentially for her. In that moment, though, Fred felt great warmth in her kiss with Wesley. This wasn't a fairy tale or anything, so none of her problems were solved with just a kiss, but she felt a tiny, tiny bit better, which was something. Her mind kept going back to everybody who died. Her parents and thousands of other innocent people. They were supposed to help the helpless. Instead, they ended up taking jobs at an evil law firm and murdering every potential client they could've had.

No, Fred was far from okay. But with Wesley by her side, she could try and feel better.

Or, at least that's what she believed. There was no guarantee.

"Are you guys done?" Harmony questioned, still standing awkwardly by the side.

Wes and Fred pulled apart. Wes kept his eyes on Fred. She still looked rather sad, rather frightened. He wanted to hold her again. He wanted to tell her he'd be there for her, no matter what.

But unfortunately, he had work to do.

* * *

Gunn was nervous about going back to the White Room. The last time he'd been there, he had gotten into a little bit of a fight with the conduit that was in the form of a look-alike of himself. That was not something he wanted to face again. He didn't have a choice, though, did he? No, Angel actually wanted him to go down here and speak to the conduit. What would the conduit say?

It didn't take him long for him to get to an elevator, but it took a few minutes for him to gain the strength to push the button to open the doors. When he did, he got in the elevator and took a deep breath. "Here we go," he whispered to himself and then pushed the buttons into the elevator that would lead him down to the White Room.

He felt the elevator moving down and down and down until it finally stopped. The doors opened at a seemingly alarming slow rate. As they opened, his eyes were blinded by the astounding brightness that was the White Room.

Gunn stepped out of the elevator. He didn't see any conduit.

"Hello, kitty, kitty?" he called similar to before, thinking the conduit might be back to the form Gunn was used to seeing it in. "Mirror me?"

"I am here," a voice spoke up from behind Gunn. He spun around to see what he'd be facing this time. It wasn't the cat, and it wasn't himself, either. Instead, it was Fred. Except it wasn't. She looked like Fred, but her hair had streaks of blue in it and her eyes were the same shade. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, as if waiting intently for something to happen.

"You ain't the same as before," Gunn observed.

"I have told you. The physical form is determined by the viewer. Thus, I appear as Illyria."

Gunn shook his head. "I didn't have no idea what woulda happened if Illyria had taken over Fred. I didn't know she would've looked like this."

"Or did you?"

Gunn didn't understand what the conduit was asking, and that didn't matter. He wasn't here for contemplation anyway. "The Senior Partners know what happened?"

"Of course. Like there was any way to avoid it."

"Are they angry?"

The conduit-as-Illyria started circling Gunn slowly. He had to turn his head just to keep his eyes on her. "They are not thrilled with the outcome. They are not displeased, either."

"Do we gotta do this? Speak in riddles? Just answer the damn question."

Suddenly she disappeared and reappeared right in front of Gunn and picked him up like he weighed a mere two pounds. "Why are you here? Did you not understand what I told you earlier? The Senior Partners are _tired _of you. They are not here to answer your questions."

"Let me down!" Gunn yelled.

"Leave," she ordered. "If I am forced to see you again the Senior Partners will _not _be happy." She threw him back towards the elevator door.

Standing up, he asked one last question. "Are they mad at Angel's actions?"

"If they were overly mad at your champion with a soul, he would be dead by now."

The conduit disappeared.

Gunn went back into the elevator.

* * *

He had nightmares of people. There were thousands, millions, surrounding him, looking up at him, whispering to each other about him, and pointing and judging. Then, in the middle of the crowd, one fell over dead. Then another, then another, then another.

Soon, they were all dead.

But the whispers, the voices did not stop.

_"Why did you let this happen?"_

_ "Why did you do this to us?"_

_ "How could you be so heartless?"_

_ "Why did you let us die?"_

_ "How will you live with yourself?"_

_ "I hope you die you rotten, murdering freak!"_

And then there she was. She stood tall, brown hair billowing in the wind. Fred was standing there in front of Angel, angrily. "How could you do this to me?" she asked. "If you knew me, cared about me at all, you wouldn't have done this. You're the devil, a sick, sick freak. You don't deserve this life. I should stake you in the heart, Angelus. You're evil! Fall!"

She raised her hands and the ground Angel was standing on started crumbling and before he truly knew what was happening he was falling, falling, falling into forever darkness.

_"Oof!" _he let out as he landed. Angel was still surrounded by darkness, but he wasn't falling anymore. He was okay. He'd lived.

"You're a fool. I'm gonna stake you!" a different voice said and a body jumped on Angel and he felt the tip of a stake start to pierce his skin.

"Stop, stop!" Angel screamed and tried to fight, but the person was too strong.

"Don't tell me what to do."

Angel found out who was behind the voice. It was Buffy, and she was trying to kill him. With a surge of strength, Angel threw her across the room, or wherever he was.

"Angel, you did me a favor," a different voice said from behind him.

"Wesley?" Angel called.

"Yes. You did me a favor. You saved her life. All I've ever wanted was to be with her."

Angel still couldn't see Wesley, but he was happy to hear what he was saying. "I-I didn't want to hurt anybody."

"I know," Wesley spoke with concern. "And that's why I'm sorry. I will forever praise you for what you did to save Fred. But you killed so many people. You must be stopped."

He felt the sharp piece of wood pierce his heart. Angel opened his mouth and tried to scream or talk or do anything, but he couldn't. Soon he'd be dust and he'd be gone and forgotten and nobody would care because he did horrible things and Spike would get to live and he'd be the one who the Shanshu prophecy was talking about and Angel would be dead, gone, and-

Angel was back in his room, awake. He was very hot and sweating. It had been a terrible nightmare. He was sure there would be more to come.

He looked outside. It was night. He'd been asleep for many, many hours, having nightmares. It was terrible. He never wanted to sleep again. And yet he felt so tired, for some reason.

It was night! Angel jumped out of bed, still fully clothed. They were all sweaty and clinging to his skin, so he threw them off and tossed on a new pair of clothes. He had to go, go see how Fred was doing and how Wes was doing and if he'd found any type of spell or anything at all that could help them stop fires, and he had to find Gunn to see if he talked to the conduit and how the Senior Partners were reacting. He also had to find Spike and Knox.

Angel made his way to his elevator.

* * *

Gunn left work. It probably wasn't a smart thing to do in that time, and he planned on going back, but he just had to see something. He had to.

So many people were dead. He had to go see. There were people he cared about outside of Angel and that group of people. He had to go check on those people, to see if they were dead. Chances were they were all dead, but he had to check. Nobody else was checking on them, so he had to.

His first stop was a place he cared for that helped many homeless teens and was ran by a perfectly nice, innocent woman. Her name was Anne and, as far as Gunn was concerned, she was a saint. She didn't deserve to die. The thought of her just lying there, dead…well, it was enough to shake Gunn up. No one, especially Anne, deserved that. The homeless kids she looked after didn't deserve that either.

He neared the homeless shelter. It looked so small, so frail from this distance, but Gunn had been inside and he knew what strength radiated from just being inside the building. He was afraid, much more afraid than he was earlier, when talking to the conduit. He was about to see a lot more dead bodies.

He entered the building. The first thing he noticed were many teenagers laying on the floor. One had half of his body on the ground and his legs facing upwards on the stairs. He died while he was coming downstairs. Gunn had to close his eyes to stop the tears from coming. He couldn't do this. But he had to. He made his way around to the main office, Anne's office. If he saw her long blond hair sprawled everywhere and her laying there on the ground, what would he do? He'd run, he decided. He'd run because what else could he do?

Slowly, he creaked open the door. All it took was one quick look around the small office to know nobody was in there. Gunn let out a sigh of relief, but he knew it wasn't over yet. Anne could've been anywhere in this building. He had to go around and check.

It didn't take him long to search the whole shelter, up and down. He saw too many dead bodies of homeless teens, and all it did was make him sadder than he already was.

What he didn't find, though was Anne. She was nowhere to be found. Gunn supposed maybe she wasn't at the shelter, but where would she be? Home? No, as far as Gunn knew, she would want to stay here with the teens no matter what, and he didn't even know if she had a real home because she considered this shelter her home. Shopping? Maybe, at a grocery store or something.

Gunn felt defeated. Staying in here wasn't going to help, though, so he rushed out. Outside he saw smoke and a fire in the near distance rise up against the night sky. It was ominous and looked dangerous, and it'd spread soon. They had to stop it, somehow. They had to stop it almost as much as Gunn felt the need to find Anne.

* * *

Wes spent most of the day flipping through books, searching for some kind of spell that Angel was looking for, one that could stop all stray fires. It was a difficult thing to look for. He didn't have much luck most of the day.

Until about sunset. Then, he found something that might be useful. It was a darkening spell, one that would turn off all any light in any given area that the person performing the spell chose. Did that light include fires? Wes wasn't really sure, it didn't say, but it was worth a shot, wasn't it? And even if it didn't get rid of fires, it would get rid of all the turned on lights across the areas where everyone died.

Wes suppressed a laugh. People dead, and here he was thinking he'd be doing some favor if he managed to turn off electricity in other states/countries.

Fred stayed with Wes all day, in his office. She just sat there, not speaking or even really moving except to take a sip of water from a cup. She was thinking intently. Wes wanted to feel bad and he wished he could talk to her. Now wasn't the time, though, not yet, not anymore, not here.

Harmony also stayed in the office with Wes and Fred, although she sat down and was rather quiet.

After Wes found the spell, he started gathering some of the ingredients, which included a large metal bowl, some form of light (like a light bulb), the blood of a demon (Wes was lucky Harmony was willing to give some of hers), a map to specify where the light would disappear from so they didn't stop anything in the areas where people were still alive, and then some other herbs. Everything aside from the map had to be mixed in said metal bowl.

Just as Wes got everything ready, Angel walked in. "You found something?" he said, not bothering with pleasantries.

"Maybe," Wes admitted. "I'm not sure. We'll just have to try, though."

Angel nodded and left Wes alone to finish gathering everything and prepare for the spell. He walked over to Fred. He needed to speak with her.

"How are you doing?"

"Oh, just great," she replied sarcastically, "thanks for asking."

"Listen, Fred, I don't want it to be like this between us. We're friends. I need…I need you to not be mad at me."

"Angel, you shouldn't have done it."

"It doesn't matter. It's already been done. Now you—_we_—have to find a way to move on. We're both going to do some inner suffering because of this. We'll survive, though. And you know why? Because we have each other, and without each other, we'd be nothing. We'll keep fighting and keep growing stronger because that's what we do."

"We grow stronger," Fred repeated.

"We do." Angel paused. "You know why I couldn't let you go, Fred? Because of what you mean to me—no, what you mean to all of us. Lorne loves you so much, you know? I'm not sure what it is, but he would be crushed without you. You and Gunn have so much history together, have been through so much, and you guys are at the perfect place now, or so I think, as friends. He cares about you possibly more than he's cared about any friend he's ever had since Alonna. And Wesley? Fred, he's in love with you in a way I can relate to. I've fallen in love as strong as he has once or twice, so I know the look. I also know what it's like to lose the love of my long life, more than once, and it makes me want to fall apart and crumble each time it happens. Can you imagine what your death would've done to Wesley? He might've gone crazy, done something crazy like-" Angel stopped himself just in time from mentioning the name Connor. "The point is, none of us could've lived without you. Including me, because you're one of the closest friends I've ever had. And I know that, no matter what, you'll stay with us and be strong and keep fighting because that's who you are."

Angel surprised himself with the long speech. But Fred looked at him, and he actually smiled.

"Thank you," she whispered.

At the same time, Wesley spoke. "I'm ready."

"Okay," Angel said, turning back to Wesley. "Where are Lorne and Gunn?"

"Lorne's downstairs somewhere, and I assume Gunn is also. I haven't seen him since…well, since earlier today in your office, actually."

Angel frowned. Gunn hadn't come back from the White Room, or did they just not see him come back? Angel felt a moment of worry, but it went over when he realized Gunn was probably still just afraid of facing them too much because of what he did.

"Let's do the spell," he told Wes.

* * *

Gunn walked along the street, watching the fire that was still a long ways in front of him. As he walked the silently empty streets, he kept his eyes open for a head full of bright blond hair that could be Anne's. His eyes were on the fire, though, because the fire was hard to ignore. It was growing pretty large and smoke was starting to cover the air.

Suddenly, minutes later, as Wes did the spell, the fire seemed to stop growing, stop moving, and then it was as if it just disappeared. Along with the disappearance of the fire, was the disappearance of all electricity in front of Gunn that he could see. The streetlamps were off and every light that was on when everyone died was off as well. Gunn was now walking the darkest path he could've imagined. He couldn't see his hands in front of his face.

There was light behind him, farther behind him, from the Wolfram & Hart building that seemed to glow far behind him. Plus, people even further back were still alive, so their house lights were on, because the spell hadn't been directed that way, even if Gunn didn't know that.

He started making his way back to the Wolfram & Hart building as best as he could without tripping over anything he couldn't see.

* * *

Earlier, when it was still day, Knox woke up to find the blond haired male vampire in front of him, keeping watch. He was again tied to a chair, but much more secure this time so it seemed like there was no possibility of escape. At this point, Knox believed what Gunn had said about them somehow saving Fred, because if Illyria had taken over Fred she would've came and rescued him by now.

"Oh, you're awake," Spike had said when he woke up.

"Yeah," Knox said groggily.

"Well, I suppose I'm supposed to keep watch over you, although I don't know why. There are plenty of things we could do with you in this hell of a place. I think the big old boss man is just deciding how much he wants to hurt you before we do anything drastic."

Knox groaned. "If you're going to kill me, just do it and skip over all the pointless talk, would you?"

"Oh no," Spike had said, stepping towards Knox. He punched him square in the face and Knox fell over in the chair and knocked his head on the ground. "That was for Fred. Now don't talk anymore, or I'll eat you." He started to walk back to where he was sitting before.

"Aren't you going to tilt me back up?" Knox called.

"Nope," Spike said, and from that point on to the night, Knox didn't say a single word to Spike.

* * *

Connor was suddenly surrounded by darkness. He was fearful for a mere second until the voice calmed him down.

_It's fine. Once morning comes we'll have sight back, and we'll attack. _It spoke.

Connor nodded. "Angel will died tomorrow," he said in tone that was not quite his own. In his hand he gripped a sharp piece of wood, a stake that he was planning on attacking Angel with tomorrow, whether he truly wanted to or not.

* * *

"It worked," Wes marveled.

"How can you be sure?" Angel asked, being cautious.

"I just feel it. All lights, including the fires are out where we need them to be."

Harmony stood up and walked over to them. "Well that's great. Can I go home now? I've been here all day."

"Sure, Harmony. Just be careful, okay?"

"Be careful of what? Everyone's dead, including me. But I still need my beauty sleep, so I'll see you tomorrow? You should get some sleep too, Boss, you look exhausted." With that, Harmony walked out the door and left.

Wesley turned to Angel. "You do look tired."

"I just got through with hours of sleep. I don't need more."

"Nightmares?" Fred's voice from the corner of the room suggested, and Angel and Wes turned to her.

Angel decided to be honest. "Yeah, nightmares."

"Well, go try and get some more sleep, even if it doesn't work too much. That's what I'm going to do. We do get stronger, like you said, so maybe you'll grow a resistance to the dreams if you can face them."

"Sure, Fred. Sure, I'll try." For Fred, he would try and sleep again. He knew it would not be easy.

* * *

Willow and Kennedy were in Rome, staying with Buffy, Dawn, and Andrew. The apartment was kind of tight because of the two extra guests, but it wasn't their fault, really. Besides, nobody minded because they were all happy to see one another.

At the moment, Buffy and Kennedy went out to go deal with some Slayer stuff. Mostly, Buffy wanted to talk to everybody about Angel, to calm them down and prove that he wasn't Angelus, and she insisted Kennedy come along with her. Andrew didn't go with them, but he went out, and he wouldn't say where. He was being awkward and shady, and, in all honesty, Willow wasn't really concerned with where he was going. Willow had other things on her mind. That left her and Dawn alone.

Willow was sitting on the couch, with her laptop, looking up a bunch of people she knew before, looking for phone numbers or email addresses or anything like that.

"What are you doing?" Dawn asked as she walked into the living room with a bottle of water. She flopped on the couch right next to Willow.

"Oh, just searching around," Willow said. "Ever since this whole…thing happened, I've been looking for anybody I knew. So many people died, Dawn. I guess I just want to call some people and see if their alive, even if I haven't talked to them in forever. It just feels like the right thing to do."

Dawn frowned. "Couldn't you just, like, I don't know, magic it up and search for people that way? It'd probably be easier."

"I could," Willow shrugged. "But there are some people I'm just not ready to, you know, search for like that to see if they're okay. I guess because I'm too afraid of the answer." There was a knock at the front door. "I'll get it," Willow offered and moved the laptop off of her and got up to answer the door.

When she opened it, she was surprised to see Faith standing there. "Hey, Red," Faith smiled a little, then made a smirk. "Where is she?" Faith asked and, without asking, walked into the apartment.

"Faith! What-what are you doing here?"

Giles was right and Faith wasn't able to go to L.A., so she came to Rome to visit Buffy and the others. "Looking for Buffy," Faith said. "I want to talk to her about this thing with Angel."

"Oh," Willow said softly. "Well, she's not here right now. And it's okay, really. Buffy knows Angel didn't have anything to do with this, and she's out right now telling the other Slayers that."

Faith frowned. "Well, they might not believe her. I guess that's what I'm here for, just in case. Back in London some Slayers are talking about staking Angel, like he'd have something to do with this."

"Well, um, it did start in L.A."

Faith glared at Willow. "I know that. Still, I'll just stay here until Buffy comes back. You got anything to eat here? I'm starving." She walked away into the kitchen.

Willow sighed. _Well, this should be fun, _she thought sarcastically.

To be continued…


	8. Chapter 8

The sun rose high in the sky and Angel laid in his bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling, just thinking. He did try to sleep the night before, but it hadn't worked too well. At one point he fell asleep and ended up waking up about ten minutes later from a horrid nightmare about Illyria actually taking over Fred and going around killing everybody, and people still blamed him because he could've stopped it.

There was just no winning for Angel in this situation, in his dreams.

After the nightmare, he hadn't bothered to sleep again. He'd be fine for a while without sleep. So he stayed awake and just thought, about everything, all the events of the last few years, ever since he, Cordy, Wes, Gunn, and Lorne rescued Fred from Pylea. She was such an innocent, lonely girl determined not to be the damsel in distress, but Angel rescued her and she came back with them. And, slowly but surely, she became a big part of their team. They were in many life and death situations over the years, but before there were always different outcomes that could've happened, and many different ways to save people's lives. Not in this situation. It was either Fred lived or Fred died, no in between. So Angel made the choice. Was it the right choice or the wrong choice? What exactly would've happened if he let Illyria take over Fred? It was a good question, and one he was glad he didn't know the answer to.

Still. Was Angel right and the world would've been worse with Illyria in it, or could they have stopped her if they needed to?

Angel thought about getting up and out of bed and getting to work, but what was the point? Most of the clients were dead anyway, at least any clients that were in or near L.A. Why did Angel have to get up and go run the place when really there was nothing to run? For the image, that was why. There were still many Wolfram & Hart offices around the world, and they knew about Angel running things over here, and if he just gave up now, they would never take him seriously again. He had to get up and get to "work" because if he didn't, he'd appear a fool, if he wasn't appearing as one already.

Plus, Angel could go check on all of his friends, see how they were doing. He'd still yet to talk to Gunn about what went down in the White Room and he still hadn't found Spike and Knox.

Oh, Knox, whatever was he going to do with him? It was time to think of something. He couldn't just keep people watching over him forever. He could kill Knox, or have someone kill Knox. He surely deserved to die, didn't he, after what he did to Fred? Plus, he was evil, and Angel didn't tolerate much evil at this firm anymore. So death, right? He'd have Knox killed. But what if the others wanted more? Gunn wanted to hurt Knox, and Angel wasn't sure if that was really because of what Knox did or because Gunn had a lot of bent up anger inside of him because of the information he found out about the papers he signed. What if Wesley or Fred wanted to hurt Knox in their own way? That would be wrong, though, wouldn't it, to allow someone to get hurt? What to do with Knox, what to do with Knox. Maybe he'd ask the others what they wanted, and they'd go from there. Yeah, that sounded like an okay plan. Ask the others.

He got up and out of bed after many more minutes of contemplation. It was time for him to get up, walk around, and visit the others. As far as he knew, Wes, Fred, and Lorne had slept here, in the Wolfram & Hart building because none of them wanted to go home and face the absolute silence. Angel couldn't blame them. Gunn might've slept here too, but, as he thought before, he didn't see Gunn last night.

Angel jumped in the shower, got out, dried himself, got dressed in all black, spiked his hair, and then made his way to the elevator. He arrived in his office, but quickly left to go walk around the building. There were still lawyers and others walking around in here, seemingly working but doing God knows what. Angel wasn't very curious, so he didn't ask. Instead, he made his way to Wes's office.

Wesley was walking around, gathering some papers and books. Fred was seated in a chair near the door to his office, curled up in a little ball and sleeping.

"Angel," Wes said in a whisper when he saw Angel. "Did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah," Angel lied, unsure why.

"Well that's great. And just so you know, if you plan on telling that to Fred, you better perfect that lie so it's not so obvious."

Angel cringed. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It's understandable. I'm surprised myself that Fred's even asleep."

"Yeah, me too. Did you get some sleep?"

"Yes, plenty; thanks for asking."

"No problem. So listen, where is Knox?"

"He's in the lab."

"Oh, yeah, okay. So, Wes, I'll see you later, okay?"

"What are you going to do with him?" Wes asked, and they both knew who he was referring to. It wasn't hard to figure out.

Angel shrugged. "Not sure yet. I'll talk to you about it later."

Angel left Wes to do whatever it was that he was doing and left Fred so she wouldn't wake up to him and Wes talking. He decided he should go in the lab and check on Spike and Knox. On his way, he just happened to run into Gunn.

"Angel, I've been meanin' to talk to you," Gunn told him.

"I haven't seen you since yesterday. Is everything okay? Did something bad happen in the White Room?"

"No, don't worry about it. The Senior Partners aren't angry or anything, I don't think. For now I think we should just keep on working like usual."

"How are we supposed to keep working? Nearly all our clients are dead."

"Well, you'll figure it out, Boss. See you around?" Before Angel responded, Gunn was walking away.

Inside the lab, Angel witnessed Spike sitting in a chair, asleep, and Knox tied into a chair that was knocked over on the ground. Neither of them made any sounds as he walked in. Angel slammed the door to the lab to wake Spike up.

He jumped awake but once he saw Angel he rolled his eyes. "Oh. Just you."

"Yep, just me. You didn't hurt him, did you?"

Spike shrugged. "Would it matter if I did?"

Angel made his way over to Knox. It gave him chills when he leaned over and saw Knox's eyes were wide open, just staring upwards. When he saw Angel, he moaned. "Oh, are you here to kill me? Just get it over with already, please. I don't know how much longer I can stay in this chair."

Ignoring Knox, Angel looked back over at Spike. "Sorry for leaving you in here all night. I forgot to come check up on you guys."

"Don't worry about it, mate. How's Fred?"

"She's good. She's asleep. I think she'll be okay, eventually. You can go now, if you'd like. You don't have to watch over him any more if you don't want to."

"Eh, I don't mind. What are you going to do with him?"

"I don't know yet. I want to talk to the others, see what they think."

"Then go do that. I'll stay here," Spike folded his arms over his chest.

"Spike-"

"Don't argue with me, just go!"

Angel turned and left Spike alone in the lab to watch over Knox until they knew exactly what they were going to do with him.

* * *

Fred's eyes opened and she stretched herself awake. Wesley walked over to her and kneeled in front of her. "How'd you sleep?" he asked.

She groaned. "Mmm, good, I think. No nightmares or anything. I still feel a little shaken, though. Like, it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm here because a bunch of people died. It's too much."

"But you're okay?"

Fred yawned. "Have you seen Angel?"

Wes noticed how she avoided the question, and that alarmed him for a few seconds. Did that mean she wasn't really okay? Well, of course she wasn't, and he didn't expect her to be, but he knew that she knew she could answer the question honestly if she needed to. So what was with the whole secretive act?

"Wesley?" Fred sat up straight and frowned as he was just staring off, in thought, it seemed.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I was just…" Wes had no answer. "Yes, I have seen Angel. He seemed okay."

"I'm okay too," Fred said. "I'm not perfect. But I'm okay. What Angel told me last night, well, it gave me a different outlook on things. It helped."

"What did he tell you?"

Fred gave a small smile. "Just how much you all would be lost without me."

Wesley nodded. "I can confirm that we would all be very lost without you."

"As stupid as a question as this may be," Fred started, "would you have done the same thing? Say yes to the death of so many in order to save me?"

"Yes," he answered immediately after.

"Even though so many people died?"

"I would have done it even if it was the entire world that had to die."

Fred hugged Wesley. She felt better this way, with him. She felt a little bad about lying to him earlier, though, about dreaming. She didn't have any nightmares, but she did dream. In her dreams, her parents came to her and she cried. They told her it was okay and that they were happy that she was alive, even if they weren't. They told her it was okay to be happy, even if so many people died. They told her to cherish her life.

She didn't know if they were real or just dreams, but it didn't necessarily matter because they were there, and they told her it was okay, so she decided to listen to them. She wasn't 100% better. Her goal was to try and get to that point.

* * *

When Angel walked by Harmony's desk, he asked her if she could call Wes and bring him to his office. She said she'd do it, so Angel walked into his office, sat down at his desk, and started flipping through some paper work that didn't really matter anymore. He wanted to bring everybody in one by one and talk to them about Knox, just so they wouldn't be influenced by anyone else.

What Angel didn't know was that as he was flipping through the pointless paper work waiting for Wes, a teenage boy with brown hair and ice blue eyes was entering the building with not quite his own mind set on murdering the vampire with a soul.

* * *

Lorne looked at the list of famous actors, actresses, singers, authors, and other famous people that were on the client list that were now dead. Lorne felt defeated, like there wasn't a single reason he should be here now. With all these people gone, what point did the entertainment division even have now? What point did Lorne serve to Wolfram & Hart? Nothing! He was just dead weight.

The door to his office opened and in walked Gunn before Lorne could say anything.

"I need your help, Lorne," Gunn said.

Lorne put a hand on his forehead. "Oh, not now, sugar, I have a headache. Do you know that we pretty much have zero famous clients now? I mean, would it have killed Angel to call us and warn us that an unspeakable amount of people were going to die? We might have been able to save a few clients."

Gunn sat down next to Lorne. "That's what you're worried about? Famous people?"

Lorne thought for a moment. "You're right; they were all mostly jerks anyway. So what's up?"

"Well, I'm searchin' for some people to see if they…weren't attacked by Illyria."

"Oh, honey, why would you do that?! That would cause a lot of stress, thinking about people who probably died. And do you know what stress does to your skin?"

"Lorne."

"Sorry. So who are you searching for?"

"Anne, mainly. I walked around the shelter last night, searching for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I know I might be goin' out on a limb, here, but maybe she's safe, you know? I just wanna see. I have to."

"Oookayyyy," Lorne said in a sing-song voice. "How can I help with that?"

"Well, it involves some singing."

"Oh, of course. Being emphatic, it's all I'm good for." Lorne said this with a grin, to say he was joking. "Alright, tough guy. Sing for me."

* * *

The door to Angel's office swung open. Angel was still looking down, at some paper work, with his chair not facing his office door.

"Wes, I know this is a big deal, but you don't have to storm in here all-"

Suddenly Angel's desk was being pushed forward with a surge of strength and Angel was being thrown on the floor as someone leaped in the air, landed in front of Angel, and threw him across the office. The desk hit the wall with a bang and Angel looked up to see his chair being thrown at him. He rolled to the side just in time to mostly dodge the chair except for one leg that hit him in the side. He was still on the ground, and looked to see who was causing this mess.

He was surprised at who he saw because he never thought he'd see him again. Connor was standing above him, looking down with a menacing look and a stake in his hand. He wasn't normal, though. There was something deeply disturbing about Connor's appearance, and he could easily see it was his eyes. They weren't the brown they usually were, they were blue.

Angel was too stunned to react, to fight back, and before he knew it Connor was pinning him to the ground with one hand and raising the other with the stake in it.

"You will die!" Connor screamed.

But the stake didn't come near his chest. It hovered in the air for at least three seconds, which gave Angel the chance to push Connor off of him with a strength that sent Connor sailing into a wall.

The attack didn't faze Connor. He came right back at Angel, running full force and tackling him to the ground. He raised the stake again and this time Angel saw, he saw that this time there would be no stopping whatever was inside Connor from staking him.

It was a flicker. Out of nowhere Connor's unnatural blue eyes flashed back to the brown they always were before. With his new eyes, Connor looked Angel up and down with a confused look on his face, as if he didn't know what he was doing. Connor dropped the stake to the ground.

"Connor," Angel whispered. His son looked afraid and nervous and anxious. He was sweating terribly and his mouth was open in shock. He jumped off Angel and started running to the door to his office. "Connor, wait!" Angel shouted behind him.

Just as Connor started running, Wesley came in through Angel's office door. With a slam Connor bumped into Wes and they both fell to the floor.

They both stood up at about the same time and Connor took a look at the man he ran into. "Wesley," Connor said.

He frowned. "Do I know you?"

Out of nowhere Connor let out a shrill scream. "Leave me alone, leave me alone!"

"Connor, what's going on?" Angel asked, rushing over to his son. He grabbed his arm but Conner swiped it away and backed up into the glass by his door.

Connor kept screaming. "I am not you! I am not what you are! Leave! Me! Alone!"

Angel saw as his eyes turn back into the blue that was anything but normal. "Wes, get some chains." Wesley stood there, unsure what to do. "Now!" Angel yelled and Wes ran off. Alone in the room, Angel began to talk. "Connor, I-"

"I am not Connor," Connor spoke, and Angel heard something in his voice that told him that this was very much _not _the Connor he knew.

"Right, right, of course," Angel said slowly, playing along.

"Back away. You do not want me to inflict maximum pain. Do not think I am not prepared for any trick you may attempt to pull on me."

"What are you?"

He giggled just for a few seconds. "You know who I am."

"I didn't ask who you were, I asked what."

Connor frowned. And Angel leapt and sent a punch into Connor's face that made Angel feel sick to his stomach. The glass behind Connor broke as he went flying through and into the main lobby of the floor. Harmony immediately ran around the corner and gasped as she saw the teenage boy lying in the middle of the floor with glass surrounding him. Before Connor had the chance to stand up Angel was on top of him now, pinning him down. He tried as hard as he could not to stare into those icy eyes.

"Harm! Tranquilizer gun, now!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Harm run away to retrieve the gun.

"Get off me! You will die, Angel, I swear to you I will not leave until you are dead and gone out of this world forever. It'll be fun; I'll take another stake and drive it right through your cold, un-beating heart, because that's who I am, Angel, that's what I do because your son never could. I will not rest until I have-"

To the side a small sound occurred as Harmony pulled the trigger to the gun, causing a dart to fly into Connor's neck. He got a woozy look on his face and before he knew what was happening, he was asleep. Angel stood up slowly, hoping, praying that this would really work and Connor wouldn't jump up unaffected by the dart.

Angel hated the idea of having to do that to Connor, but he had no choice. He was acting like a wild animal; he had to stabilize him somehow.

Wesley came running in with handcuffs and chains to tie Connor down.

By now, almost everyone who worked at Wolfram & Hart was standing around, staring at Angel and the kid beneath him, including Fred, Gunn, and Lorne. Everybody had a look of pure distress on their faces. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop on the carpet.

Wordlessly, Angel bent down and picked up Connor's lifeless body. He turned to Wes. "Bring them to the basement."

Wesley followed Angel on foot as everyone else's eyes followed him.

When they were out of sight, Lorne turned to Gunn and Fred. "Did he say 'your son'?!"

* * *

There were cells in the basement of Wolfram & Hart that were, at the moment, unoccupied. Angel brought Connor into one of those cells, tied a chain around his body so he couldn't move, and then handcuffed one of his hands to one of the bars of the cell. The whole time he was doing this, Wes was looking at Angel with a look like Angel was insane.

"Is that really necessary?" Wes asked once Angel was done.

"He was powerful," Angel said. He thought about just how powerful Connor was. He seemed to be a lot more powerful than before. Sure, he was always strong, but there was something different him, other than the eyes, that Angel was trying to understand. For example, he seemed stronger.

"Angel, who is he?" Wes questioned as Angel took a step back from the cell which Connor was now inside. "How did he know my name? I've never met him before. Those eyes, I would have remembered them. He seemed so distraught."

"Wes, this isn't something we can go into right now. There's an emergency."

Wes wasn't listening too well. "The scary thing is I…I recognize him. From where, I couldn't tell you, but it's as if I've seen his face before but can't remember it."

"Wes!" Angel yelled. "You've never met him. You have no idea who he is."

"But you do?"

Angel glanced back at his fallen son that would awaken in a few hours. "I know who he was. At this point, he's been taken over."

"Taken over by what?"

At first, Angel didn't want to say it. He knew, deep inside his gut he just knew. It wasn't certain, not at all, but how could it be anything else? He didn't want to alarm Wes, or at least not yet. He couldn't say what took over Connor. Angel had to figure out if it really was indeed Illyria who was trapped inside his son.

"I don't know," Angel lied. Something Connor screamed stuck with him. _Your son never could, _he had said. He used the word son. How was Angel going to explain that to everybody? They didn't remember Connor, and Angel wasn't ready to admit what he did to them. He'd have to lie, say Connor was delusional. They'd believe it, right? They saw how he was acting, like a crazy person, so they'd have to believe it. They had to.

"Angel, why are you lying to me?"

He shook his head. "Come on. I need to talk to everyone."

* * *

Gathered in his semi-destroyed office were Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, and Harmony. Angel was standing in front of them, preparing himself for this, thinking over what exactly he was going to say. He couldn't explain Connor, at least not yet, so he had to think of some kind of excuse, but he didn't have any more time.

Fortunately, Spike came running into the office. "What the bloody hell is going on here? Last I knew everything was fine and dandy and next thing I know there are stories about you fighting some super-kid with red eyes?"

"Blue eyes," Gunn corrected him.

"Oh, wank off," he told Gunn.

Gunn raised his hands in defiance. "I'm tellin' you the truth."

"Spike, who's watching Knox?" Angel asked, thankful for the delay in his speaking time.

"I don't know. Jim or Tom or something or other. Now tell me what the hell is going on here."

"A kid named Connor attacked here," Angel began. "It's true; he has blue eyes sometimes, but not all the time. They seem to alternate between blue and brown. I think that means something is going on inside him, some kind of multiple personalities thing that's taking over his mind. He seemed to try and fight it, but it didn't work." Angel had to close his eyes to block the tears away.

"Angel, who was he?" Fred asked. "Why did he say something about your son?"

"Yeah, oh, and why would something be taking him over, by the way?" Gunn snidely remarked.

"He's just a kid I know. I have no idea why he said my son. He's delusional, or something. I know him from a case I once worked."

"Why don't I remember this case?" Gunn, again.

"It was a long time ago, back in the me, Cordelia, and Doyle phase," he continued. Angel then gulped. "I guess there's no way around this but to just say it. I think something happened to Connor. He's normally a nice kid, mostly. I think he…I think Illyria has done something to him."

Gasps filled the room. "Illyria?" Fred echoed.

"But she's gone," Wes fought. "How could she have infected someone else?"

"No," Angel disagreed. "She hasn't infected anybody. Spike and I saw her fly into the sarcophagus. Something must've gone wrong when she flew inside him to kill him, somehow."

"Oh, come on," Spike snorted. "Why would it infect this kid and not someone else?"

"I'm not sure."

"Angelcakes, with all due respect, you're not telling us the whole truth," Lorne weighed in. "I can tell."

"Look, I don't know any more than any of you know. I don't even know if Illyria really did do something to him. Maybe I'm just paranoid. For now, we'll just have to wait until he wakes up and I can talk to him."

"Or maybe someone else should talk to him," Wes opinionated. "He did, after all, come to attack you."

"I can handle him," Angel reassured Wes.

"Can you?" Gunn asked. "Because based off what I heard you didn't have no chance until his eyes turned and his other personality kicked in."

Angel rolled his eyes. Rumors and stories sure did travel fast in this building, didn't they?

"It's not just multiple personalities," Wes spoke for Angel. "Angel was right; something is taking him over completely. Whether it is Illyria or not is what we have to figure out."

Angel silently thanked Wes. "We should all just go about things as normal until he wakes up."

"No," Fred shook her head. "You do not kill thousands and thousands of people without asking, ask me to get over it, and then exclude us from what's really going on. I…I recognized this boy, Connor. I don't know from where, but I saw him before."

"Come on, guys," Angel said harshly, and he knew how rude he was being, but what else could he do? Tell them the truth? No, not yet. "If you guys really don't believe what I have to say, that's not my problem. It's as simple as that."

He hated being like this, like a jerk. This wasn't who Angel was. He didn't have a choice, though.

"Who are you?" Fred yelled, tears forming in her eyes. "The Angel we used to know never would have allowed so many to die, and he never would've spoken so vulgarly to us."

"I saved you! Why can't you just be grateful, Fred? Why don't you think it hurts me every time to think about what I did? Because it hurts, it does, and it hurts that I have to stand here and ask you guys to just trust me and believe me and you guys won't do it. We've known each other forever and yet it's like you guys think I'm evil. I'm not evil. I saved you, Fred, because I love you, we all love you, and we can't live without you."

"Angel, I know," Fred said. "I am thankful to be alive, I am. I just want to know about Connor. We all do. Please. Tell us."

Everyone stared up at him, waiting.

"He's just a kid," Angel spoke quietly. "I swear to you, I don't know who he is other than just some kid I helped once. I don't know what's wrong with him, and I want to find out. I'm deeply sorry for raising my voice and sounding angry at you all. I don't want that. We're family. I just…I'm on edge. Everything that's happened in the last few days…well, I'm not trying to make excuses. I'm just sorry."

"Angel, it's okay, we're all on edge," Fred said. "We've all been going through a lot of changes. I'm sorry too, for accusing you. I never wanted to do that."

He was lying to them. Why didn't they see that? Or did they, and were they just not saying anything?

None of them were mad at him or anything for yelling. They knew he didn't mean to yell, it just kind of happened in the heat of the moment.

"Connor's asleep, for now," Angel went on as normal. "I don't know what we want to do until he wakes up."

"I'll start doing some research," Wes suggested. "I'll see if anything like this has happened before."

Fred nodded. "I'll help him."

"We've got our own project goin'," Gunn said to Angel about Lorne. "Let us know when he wakes up."

Angel was left alone with Harmony and Spike. Nobody said anything until eventually they both left and Angel stood there, alone in his office, unsure of what else he could do in that moment to help the situation.

To be continued…


	9. Chapter 9

Angel looked him up and down. He was still strapped to the chair, like usual, and he was unemotional, unmoving, like he was frozen in his spot. Generally, it was silent. He wasn't making a sound and neither were Angel nor Spike. Knox wasn't looking at either of them; he was just looking straight forward. He was just waiting, waiting for them to do the inevitable.

"So what do you think?" Angel asked Spike. "We have to find something to do with him. I wanted to ask the others, but after what happened earlier, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea."

"They're not mad at you or anything, you could still ask them. Plus, this bloke and the situation with Connor are two entirely different problems."

"I'm not so sure. Do you know anything about this, Knox? Is there a way Illyria could be inside someone without fully taking them over?"

Knox shook his head, but said nothing.

"I say we just kill 'im," Spike suggested. "What's the point of keeping him alive, anyway? So he can uselessly sit there and not answer questions. He's evil, and I know you're pretty much anti-evil here."

"So many people have died, Spike. I know he's evil, but I'd feel guilty taking another life, any life from this world. Then again, he did technically cause what happened, in a way, so maybe death is the best outcome here."

"Really?" Knox spoke for the first time. "You're just going to stand over me and discuss my death? Do you have _any _common courtesy?"

Angel shrugged. "Not for sick, murderous bastards like you."

"Oh, like you're any different." It was barely a mumble, but both Angel and Spike heard what he said as clear as day.

"Excuse me?" Angel leaned in close to Knox, and then shifted to his vampire face. Knox was used to evil, though, so he didn't flinch and eventually Angel pulled away. They all knew he really wasn't going to do anything. "Well, Spike, it's up to you. It's officially your job to figure out what to do with Knox. Kill him, have someone kill him, throw him in a cage, do whatever you want with him. I've got other things to worry about."

"Like this Connor boy?"

For some reason, he took a short pause. He just wasn't entirely sure what to say. But then: "Yeah, like Connor."

After Angel left the lab, Spike turned himself to Knox. "Well, well, well, what to do with you," he toyed.

* * *

"Also, things are kinda hectic over here because Faith showed up. To make a very long story short, Faith's been getting into some minor arguments with people," Willow spoke long-distance on the phone to Xander, who was all the way in Africa, the half that wasn't murdered by Illyria.

"Hey, maybe I should come too," Xander joked, "and give Buffy a hard time. She'd enjoy that, wouldn't she? Man, Buffy and Faith together in one apartment. I think I can see the smoke coming from both their nostrils _alllllllll_ the way over here."

Willow chuckled. "Eh, it's not that bad, I guess. They just have their differences; you know, with Buffy all fighting and determined to find who's responsible and Faith-"

"Willing to do anything to prove Broody-Man's innocence?" Xander finished for Will.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, as far as I see it there's no question. Angel's involved, somehow. The question is: How? And why. I guess why is a pretty good question."

"Is that Xander?" Dawn yelled at Willow as she was walking by the guest room and happened to hear Willow talking on the phone. When she nodded, Dawn came running in and jumped on the bed next to Willow and she put it on speaker phone. "Hi, Xander! How are you?" Dawn asked, having not heard from Xander in a while.

"Hey, Dawnie, I'm okay, mostly. How are you?"

"_Oh, _I'm great. Rome is great, school's great, the boys are-"

"Okay, Dawn, that's great," Xander interrupted, not really in the mood to hear about any boy drama Dawn may be going through. "So, you guys think I can talk to the Buffster, or is she busy?"

"Well, there's more Slayer protest against Angel stuff going on right now, so I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Willow responded. "I never thought I'd hear so much hatred for a…for a vampire." Willow frowned at her words.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Xander said a little sadly. "Well, you guys will just have to call me back, then."

"We will!" Dawn reassured Xander.

Willow hung up the phone and her and Dawn both made their way to the living room. Gathered in the living room were Buffy, Faith, Andrew, Kennedy, and two other Slayers that Willow hadn't exactly been acquainted with, yet. One looked mean, though, with long black hair with purple streaks and a permanent snarl on her face. She had her arms crossed and was staring intently at everyone else, as if working the scene, checking to make sure nothing was going to happen. The other was short and thin, and had light brown hair that was curled. She at least seemed nicer.

"It's not that I'm saying I don't believe Angel," Buffy stood there arguing with Faith in front of the other three Slayers. Her long blond hair was in a ponytail and swung back and forth as she moved. "It's that we have no hard evidence he didn't do this. We don't even know what caused so many to die!"

"It's Angel, B," Faith argued. "Even if he did something, it wasn't intentional. That doesn't mean we should send Slayers to stake the vampire."

"I disagree," Kennedy fought Faith and walked up next to Buffy. "If this Angel guy did have something to do with all these people dying, justice needs to be given, and the only way to do that is to stake him."

"We should all really calm down," Andrew recommended from the corner of the room. "Would anybody like some tea? I could make some and we could all calm down and…" He shut up when he saw the Slayer with black hair shoot him a dirty look.

"You can't support this," Faith said, turning back to Buffy.

"It's not really my choice, Faith. I don't know what to believe. Everybody's going crazy because of what happened, and they're looking for a way to achieve justice."

"But Angel didn't do anything."

"We don't know that for sure!"

"Guys!" Willow yelled and everyone turned to look at the powerful witch. "Faith's right."

"Thanks, Red."

"To a certain extent," Willow went on. "Buffy, you know Angel never would have done something unless it was to, I don't know, end an apocalypse. And if that's what happened, you shouldn't stake him. B-but if he didn't have a soul, then that would be a different story."

"We don't know if he has his soul or not," Buffy said. "On the phone he sounded normal, but for all we know Angelus could've been playing us."

"Exactly," Willow said. "That's why we need to find out for sure."

"How?"

"Yeah," Faith agreed with Buffy. "How? They're not letting anybody into L.A."

Willow shrugged. "I know teleportation spells. I could send someone to L.A. to see how things are over there, to see how Angel is."

Without further discussion, both Buffy and Faith simultaneously said: "I'll do it."

"No," Kennedy shook her head. "Two people who have history with Angel shouldn't go. It should be me."

"No offense, baby, but you'd probably go to stake Angel no matter what, and that's also the reason we can't send somebody Angel hasn't met before."

"So then we're out?" the Slayer with black hair asked. Willow gave her a slight nod.

"So then it should be me," Buffy said.

"No, no, no, no, no, B, it should be me."

They both looked at Willow as if to say she should be the one to decide. She hated being in this position. Why did she have to choose who would go and who wouldn't? She didn't have to decide, really. But someone had to, and Buffy and Faith surely weren't going to come to a reasonable conclusion on their own.

* * *

Gunn and Lorne were walking a street that was behind the building Wolfram & Hart, so no one here was dead because Illyria hadn't come back this way. Still, there were no people to be seen because, even now, at sunset, people were still locking themselves inside, unsure if it was safe to come outside. Gunn felt bad for everybody locked inside their homes, wondering what happened to the rest of the world and if they would survive.

"I'm sorry, honey, I just really don't understand what I'm going here," Lorne said to Gunn once they started walking down the street. "I'm sure you could've done this on your own. This place really gives me the creeps. Well, everywhere nowadays gives me the creeps, but you know what I mean."

"I told you," Gunn talked without looking back at Lorne, who was following behind him. "I sang for you, and you saw this street somewhere in my future. If someone is here, maybe if we keep walkin' we'll find a building that will trigger what you saw when I sang, somehow. Then maybe we'll find Anne, or anybody that I want to find. I know it's a weak plan, Lorne, but I ain't got anything else."

"No, it's fine," Lorne sighed. "In all honesty, it's nice to get out of our workplace for a little while. Things have gone mega-crazy there, am I right? Like, its all—Gunn, look!"

Both Lorne and Gunn stopped and Lorne pointed to a tall red apartment building. Gunn checked with Lorne, and he nodded. They both made their way to the building.

It wasn't anything fancy. In fact, it was kind of old and run-down looking. Still, Lorne remembered this place for a reason, and Gunn was more than determined to search anywhere and anything that could help his cause. They immediately went up some stairs and started walking through halls. It was disturbing to think that there were people behind those doors, wondering what would happen to them and if they'd survive.

On the second floor, Lorne stopped on the third door to the left. He remembered seeing a door like this when Gunn sang, but he wasn't sure how or why. Gunn wanted to find out, though.

If he had thought about it, he probably would have realized walking up to the door and knocking on it probably wasn't a good idea. He heard a commotion inside as if something got knocked over and broke, and then he saw the peephole on the other side darken and then light up again as someone looked through it and then backed away. Then there was whispering inside. Then more darkness covered the peephole.

On the other side of the door, a small voice cried out: "Gunn?"

He recognized the voice as the voice of Anne. He let out a major sigh of relief. "Yeah, it's me. I'm sorry for just showing up like this." The door remained closed.

"I thought a bunch of people were dead? I thought-"

"Not us," Gunn said, avoiding the topic of her shelter. "I'm checkin' up on some people to see if they survived, thought I'd see if you were okay."

"Oh, Gunn, I'm fine, just really, really worried. I was just here visiting my friend," Anne said and another woman inside asked what was going on. "How'd you find me?"

"Not important right now," Gunn told her. "I'm just glad you're okay. Look, stay inside like you're doin', okay? I'm sure we'll come back later when things are less insane."

"Gunn, what's going on? Really?"

Gunn couldn't answer that right now. "Not now. Look, now that I know you're okay, I should get going."

"Yes. Yes, of course."

Gunn and Anne said a goodbye without the doors ever opening, and then he and Lorne left. Gunn was happy, the happiest he'd been for a while. A perfectly innocent woman survived just by pure luck—visiting a friend. It was a small miracle in a large accident-prone zone.

* * *

Angel was back inside his office, moving his chair and desk back into place. The glass near his door was still broken open, but it would be fixed soon enough, he hoped. His desk was also sort of damaged from hitting the wall. It was now uneven and had a long crack on it on the left side. There were really a lot of repairs that needed to be done.

"Hey, jackass."

Angel nearly jumped in the air from the voice that had suddenly arrived behind him. Before, just moments ago when he looked around his office, no one had been there. He spun around almost ready to attack whoever was there, when he saw who it was and his mouth fell open. Standing in front of him was someone he never thought he'd see again, and he had mixed emotions about hearing and seeing this person. It didn't make sense that they were here.

"I-I can't believe it," Angel stuttered. "You're dead, Lilah, in Hell. How are you here?"

Lilah gave her classic evil smile. "What? No 'Hey, how's Hell? Long time no see.' All I get is a 'You're dead'? Like we haven't been down this road before, Angel. I thought you were smarter than that."

"I was just surprised," Angel defended himself, although he had no idea why he felt the need to do such a thing.

Lilah looked the same as she did the last time he saw her, with her long brown hair and a purple top on. She didn't appear harmed or affected in any way by the fact that she spent pretty much 24/7 in Hell.

"Yeah, well, close your mouth before you attract the flies. I've only got a limited amount of time here."

"Why are you here?" Angel asked, getting right down to business, albeit he thought he might already know the answer. The last time he saw Lilah was when they accepted the jobs at Wolfram & Hart and when Lilah did the memory spell to make everyone forget about Connor and for Connor to forget about them. And now, that spell was broken, but not by choice, because Connor remembered. He knew that much from when the actual Connor saw Wesley and said his name.

"Why do you think?" she spat. "I've heard there's been a little flaw in our memory spell thing, which was never supposed to happen. Since I was the one who took care of all that, they had no choice but send me back up here. Actually, I should thank you for allowing Illyria to murder so many people. This little vacation from Hell is all I'll ever get."

"You know what happened to Connor?" Angel questioned.

"Well, I don't know exactly, but it's not hard to figure out. Somehow the impossible spawn from two vampires caused something to happen to Illyria that has never happened before, and that returned his memories. That's about all I know."

"Well, I don't know anything else," Angel admitted. "At least not yet." Feeling tired, Angel sat down on his chair.

"You know, you should get a new desk soon. It's hard to take you seriously with that thing in front of you," Lilah remarked starkly.

"No, these offices should pay for these desks. Do you know how expensive they are?"

"Okay, we're getting off topic, Soul-Boy," she rolled her eyes as she spoke. "We both know that it's not impossible for Connor to admit something about the past to any of your little team by accident."

"Can't you just do the spell to him again?"

She shook her head. "No, it won't work like that, not with whatever Illyria did to him. You either come clean to your friends and wipe the memory spell, or you try and conceal the secret until it eventually blows up in your face. Which would be amusing, by the way."

"I'm not going to tell them. I'm not ready."

"Do you ever think that maybe, just maybe, it's not about when you're ready?"

Angel sat in silence, frowning. Was Lilah right? Was that even possible: for Lilah to be right? She did have a point, he had to admit. It wasn't about him, it shouldn't be about him. It was about all of them, his friends, his family. He had to come clean. He just…he just couldn't. Wiping the memory spell would do so much. How would Wes react, knowing all of the terrible things he did in the past, and all the terrible actions Angel took against those terrible things? Fred would be angry; more than angry that Angel did something else he shouldn't have, according to her. Gunn and Lorne would surely be affected in their own ways. He didn't have to worry about Connor remembering anymore.

"But I know you, and when Mr. Broody makes up his mind, there's no changing it," Lilah went on, mocking Angel. "That's what I hate about you, Angel. Once your mind is made up, there's no changing it."

"Like you were any different?" Angel said and then realized he was using Knox's earlier words.

Lilah chuckled. "Yeah. I guess I was that way. That's over now, though. Now, I get to rot in Hell. But first, I had to come up here and let you know your options. I can get rid of the memory spell once in for all, Angel, before this gets out of hand. If that's not what you want, fine, I'll be forced to leave. So make your decision."

His mind was already made up. "I can't get rid of it, Lilah. Not yet."

"Fine," Lilah rolled her eyes again. "I'll just have to live with that in Hell," she said sarcastically. "Well, I wish I could say it's been nice seeing you."

"Wait!" Angel yelled. "That's it? You just go back to Hell?"

"I have no other business here, Angel. If I don't get back in time I'll get tortured more than usual."

"Do you think I'm making a mistake by not lifting the memory spell?" Angel didn't really care what Lilah thought about him or his decisions, but something inside him made him have to ask her.

Lilah had a truthfully snide comeback. "You don't care what I think."

Then, in the very front of Angel's eyes, Lilah disappeared. There was no flash of light or magical sound or anything; Lilah was just suddenly gone as quick as she had come. Did he make a mistake? Should he have lifted the memory spell? Would it even have made a difference?

There were too many questions to be answered, too many thoughts running through his head. It was too late to change anything now, anyway.

"Boss!" Harmony yelled, running through Angel's door. "He's awake."

* * *

Wes slammed a book closed. He was starting to get really angry. Every book he checked, every source he found on Old Ones ended up being useless in this situation. It was official: nothing like this had ever happened before. He peered over at Fred, who was sitting opposite him at the table, flipping through a different book with a serious look on her face. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she had her glasses on, looking adorable, like usual. A not-so-sudden urge came over him to go over and kiss her.

Fred looked up and happened to catch Wesley staring at her. He didn't bother looking away and trying to pretend that he wasn't doing the obvious.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"I'm done," Wes confessed. "I cannot find a single thing that would lead us to what happened to Connor."

She sighed and closed her own book. "Yeah, I get it. I'm not having any luck either. I feel like we're just going to be on our own with this one."

"I want to take you somewhere," Wes said out of nowhere. It was true, though. He wished he could take her on another date since they only technically had one since truly being together.

"Um, hello, guilt of about half the world on my shoulders."

"Yes. Plus there's the fact that we couldn't go anywhere, now could we?"

Fred laughed, surprising herself. "Yeah, we couldn't."

"Then we'll have dinner together here, tonight. Just us two. Alone."

She smiled. "Speaking of food, it's only a matter of time before Wolfram & Hart runs out of anything to eat."

"Then I guess we'll have to raid a grocery store, or a few grocery stores, however many it takes."

"I love you," she told him honestly. "I can't believe I didn't see it before. I feel like such an idiot. All I know now is that I would've never been able to survive…any of this without you. You've always been there for me. I still feel…horrible…but it helps so much that I have you."

"I love you too," he said. "I honestly don't think my life would have been worth anything if I couldn't help you through all the pain you feel."

Fred blushed. "You're too sweet."

"I can't help it. You make me that way." The pure truth was that Wes wasn't fully intending to be "sweet." He was just saying how she made him feel.

"So tonight?" Fred asked. "Dinner together, alone, just the two of us."

Before Wes had a chance to respond, Spike came walking into the office. He looked content, mostly, which was great. An angry Spike was not someone anyone appreciated dealing with. He came right over and sat on the table without any politeness once so ever. He turned his head and looked at Fred.

"I'm glad you're okay. No matter whatever pain you might feel."

"Thank you, Spike."

"Now listen," Spike began with the reason why he had just come walking in here. "Apparently Captain Forehead decided I should be the one to decide what happens with that Knox fellow. I decided to come and ask you guys if you had any preferences. I mean, Gunn already gave him a few nasty cuts, and Lorne's not the violent type, so I figured if you guys had anything you'd like to do or say to him, now'd be your chance."

Wes looked at Fred. There were mass amounts of pain he wanted to ensure on Knox, but he didn't want to do anything extreme that Fred didn't want to do. So he decided he'd leave it up to her. It was her life Knox had threatened, after all, not his, so she had the right to decide.

"Kill him," Fred said innocently, without much malice.

"Well, duh," Spike moaned. "Any preferences on how or-"

"Spike, just do it. I don't care. I don't want to see him ever again. Just get rid of him."

He jumped off the table and started to walk away. If that was all Fred wanted to know, that was all she'd know. He didn't care what way that monster died anyway.

"Wait," Fred said quietly before Spike left. He turned back to face her. "On second thought, there's something I'd like to say to him. I need to see him."

Spike nodded. "Then what the bloody hell are we waitin' for?"

* * *

Willow gathered a spell book and the ingredients she needed to do the teleportation spell. She still wasn't 100% sure who was going to go to L.A., and she knew it was about time where she should say who she thought should go. She just didn't know what to do. On one hand, it made some sort of sense for Buffy to go, just because she was Buffy and she cared so much for Angel. But on the other hand, Faith should go because of her reputation with Angel, and the fact that if he was Angelus, Faith would fight to save Angel rather than just stake him.

"So what now?" Faith asked Willow. "Are you gonna pick?"

"You-you know," Willow started, uncomfortable with the conversation, "no matter who I say that probably shouldn't be concrete. You guys can do whatever you think is best."

"Will, just pick," Buffy urged.

Willow sighed, and got ready to make her decision.

* * *

Connor was sitting on the ground when Angel walked in, not bothering to struggle against the chains and handcuffs. Instead, he was just sitting there staring off, not really looking in any general direction. His eyes were blue, and when Angel saw that he was startled for some reason.

"Don't worry," Connor spoke in a monotone voice. "I'm not going to hurt you yet."

"I want to speak with Connor, Illyria" Angel ignored his taunts.

"Ah, so you do know," Connor giggled. "There's just one flaw. I'm not Illyria. Well, okay, I'll be honest. I am Illyria. But I'm not all of Illyria. I am some of her strength and some of her thoughts. The true Illyria in her sarcophagus is not aware of the piece of her inside this boy."

"I want. To speak. With Connor."

Connor's eyes closed tightly, so tight that it looked like it hurt. But, almost miraculously, when he opened his eyes they were brown.

"Dad," Connor breathed heavily when he saw Angel, and a bead of sweat broke out on his forehead. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I did to you."

"It's okay, whatever. Are you okay?"

"It's coming back." With every word Angel could hear pain in Connor's voice. "I can feel it slowly working its way up my system and into my mind. My mind, my mind. It should be mine."

"Connor, are you okay? The memories came back so suddenly."

"I-" Connor couldn't finish due to a flash of pain hitting his mind, his skull as the voice screamed at him, begging him to let it back in.

"Connor!" Angel screamed, more worried about his son than he ever was before. "Connor, listen to me, I'm going to cure you. I love you."

His eyelids flew open, revealing those icy blues. "You _love _him? How cute, how sick. How amazingly paradox it will be that your only kid, the one you love will be the one to kill you. It might not be his own mind, but I'm taking over and I'll have full control soon enough. If you're going to find this cure you speak of, I'd do it fast."

"You're a monster. You'll never take over Connor. He's too strong to allow that to happen."

"You have so much faith in your son, and I have to know why. I can see every single one of his memories, you know. I see everything he did to you. I mean, come on, Angel, he locked you in a box and sent you to the bottom of the ocean for three months! Who in their right mind would ever forgive something like that?"

"He's still my son. I don't give up on family, any of them."

"No. Instead you lie to them and play with their memories. Seems fair."

"You know nothing."

"I know _everything."_

Angel couldn't do this. It was so hard to stand there and argue with his son who didn't have control of his own mind, his own body. It was too much to watch. He had to get out of there. As he moved out of the basement, all he heard behind him was the slow and somehow malicious laughs by Connor brought on by Illyria's control.

To be continued…


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry this chapter is a little short, I'll make up for it in the next chapter.**

* * *

Gunn and Lorne neared the Wolfram & Hart building as night was just starting to fall. They just came back from finding Anne and finding out she was alive. Gunn was still ecstatic from the news, and Lorne was also quite happy, although he didn't really know Anne. Sure, he'd heard of her, but he never met her, so he didn't exactly know who she was. Lorne did have a suspicion, though, about why Gunn felt so strongly about finding her.

Lorne placed a hand on Gunn's shoulder before they entered the building. He turned and looked at Lorne, wondering why he was stopping them from going in.

"I know why she mattered," Lorne flatly said to Gunn.

He frowned. "What?"

"I know why you cared so much about finding that girl."

Gunn looked down at the ground and shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "So what?"

"Its okay, Gunn, it really is. Nobody's mad at you. You don't have to feel guilty about what you did to bring the sarcophagus here, and you don't have to fill that void of guilt by searching for people you know, hoping and praying that they're alive. What happened with Anne; that was just luck. Chances are that won't happen again."

"Why wouldn't they be mad, Lorne? Wes was mad, and I'm sure Fred was a little peeved. Angel's got other crap to worry about, so maybe he's not mad. But I figure, hey, maybe I come in and say 'Guess what?! Not everybody we know died.' Then, maybe I'm not just some fool who almost traded his friend's life to be smart."

"We don't think you're a fool, Gunn. We love you."

"And if Illyria had taken over Fred? Would you still care about me?"

"Of course. There is no universe where our gang doesn't make it through whatever we may go through together."

"You sure 'bout that?"

Lorne nodded with more certainty than Gunn ever saw before. "I'm positive."

Gunn trusted Lorne, and he knew to listen to him. Lorne was very insightful and Gunn felt better knowing that, no matter what, all of his friends would be there with him.

* * *

Fred took a deep breath. She, Wes, and Spike were outside of the lab door. It was all her decision to come here and see Knox, so she knew she shouldn't be nervous. The thought of facing a man, a monster who would do that kind of thing, though, was just indescribable. She could do this. She just had a few things she wanted to say to Knox before he was gone. Then, Spike would do whatever it was he was going to do to kill Knox, and that would be that. That part of her life would be over.

"Are you ready, love?" Spike asked her almost impatiently. He was ready to get this over with. Then he could go back and…and what? Do what? What could he do? Help with the Connor business? Sure, but for how long? How long could he help these people, just ignoring the fact that he wanted to talk to Buffy now that she knew he was alive? So many thoughts were racing through his mind they were hard to keep under control.

"I'm ready," Fred said as calmly as she could. She felt Wes put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Spike opened the doors and they walked inside.

Knox was still sitting in the chair, tied up, looking straight forward at nothing. The moment Fred walked in and he saw her, though, his face brightened and a smile formed. He seemed almost excited to see her.

"Fred," he whispered in what she found to be a creepy voice.

"Knox," she responded without emotion.

"You're alive. At first I didn't think it was true. I thought for sure Illyria would take over. And yet here you are. Wow, this is a first."

"Knox, why would you do this to me? To anyone? Nobody deserves to be taken over like that."

He laughed. "Fred, why are you accusing me? Don't you understand you should be _honored _to receive the gift of being special enough for a god to manifest in you? No one is that special, and I chose you because you were the perfect shell for her. Perfect."

"I'm not just a shell, Knox, I'm a human being!"

"Is there a difference?"

Fred sighed. "I used to think you were a nice guy. Now I know you're just a monster."

"I'm a savior, Fred, not a monster. I saved my god from a life inside a sarcophagus. Well, I tried to, anyway. If only your pesky friends hadn't gotten in the way."

She closed her eyes tightly. This was ridiculous. There was no talking to Knox, not anymore. In reality, there never was any talking to Knox. The whole time she knew him he was just searching for someone to fit his god's needs, and that had, unfortunately, been her.

"Just do it," Fred told Spike and then stormed out of the lab without taking one last glance at Knox.

Wes stayed in the lab with Spike, though, like he planned to, because Fred wasn't the only one with resentment towards Knox, with something to say to him. Knox was a horrible, evil man. Everybody could agree on that. So why shouldn't Wes be able to do what he wanted to Knox?

"How are you going to do it?" Wes asked Spike.

Spike shrugged. "Doesn't matter, really, as long as he's gone. I'll probably just snap his neck so we don't have to deal with this nonsense anymore."

"No."

"No? Listen, Percy, I-"

"He's evil, and snapping his neck would be too quick."

Spike folded his arms over his chest. "Then what do _you _suggest, your Highness," he said sarcastically.

"Shoot him. In the stomach. He'll bleed out."

He was actually a bit surprised. "You've got a sick side to you, huh? Didn't know that, not exactly."

"Is it sick to want someone who tried to murder someone I love to die slowly and painfully?"

"I guess not."

"Can we do this already, then?" Knox spoke up. "As fun as listening to this is, I'd rather just die by now. You know, if that's okay with you guys, if that fits your schedule. I know how many important things you have to take care of."

Wes pulled a gun out of the waist of his pants.

"You always carry that around?" Spike wondered.

"Not until lately."

"I keep learning new things about you every day."

* * *

Angel, after speaking with Connor/Illyria (he didn't know what to refer to his own son as since he clearly wasn't himself most of the time), went to Wes's office to find if him and Fred found anything in any books that would tell them if there was any way to fix what was happening. Unfortunately, he walked into the office to find that neither Wes nor Fred were there. He felt himself getting angry. It was all just his luck. This was all revenge, or something, for doing what he did to the world. He saved his friend, one of his closest friends, and in return, not only did millions of people die, but he was losing his son from the thing that he saved his friend from. This wasn't fair. It made him…

No. He shouldn't say it.

It made him wonder if he made the right choice. At this point, it seemed like it wasn't a choice of Fred or the world, it was a choice between Fred and Connor. And if it really came down to it, if it was a life and death situation, he knew all of the risks, and he could only pick one, who would he have picked? Fred or Connor?

"Angel?" a girl's voice with a Texan twang appeared behind him as the office door opened.

"Fred," he said as he turned around and looked at her.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Oh, me? I'm just…nothing." Angel lost track of what exactly he was doing here, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts. Thankfully, he remembered. "No, I was looking for you and Wes. Did you guys find anything that could help Connor?"

Fred sighed. "I wish I could say we've found something, anything, Angel. We just haven't. I don't think anything like this has ever happened before."

_Of course not, _Angel thought. _I should've known that an impossible child bred from two vampires being taken over by an Old One never happened before._

"Angel, don't take this the wrong way, but you look terrible. What's going on?"

"He woke up."

"Oh my God. Is he-"

"No, he's not. He confirmed that it is Illyria inside of him. She, or it, or whatever, is taking control over him like I've never seen before. I'm scared."

"You should be scared. I'm scared now, too. Is he contained? Is there a way he can escape?"

"No, the chains and everything will hold him, I'm pretty sure. It's only a small fraction of Illyria, as far as I know, so he doesn't have all powers Illyria has."

"Well, good," Fred conceded, attempting to look at the good side of things, although from Angel's point of view there were probably zero good things about this situation. "I wish there was some way we could help. I wish there was a solution, or anything."

"There has to be." Did Angel really believe that? He wasn't so sure. "We'll have to keep looking. Maybe Lorne could ask around and…no." Angel shook his head, feeling angrier with himself than he ever did in all his life. "Lorne can't ask his recourses, because he probably doesn't have any left. They're probably all dead. Everyone."

Fred noticed the tears forming in Angel's eyes. "I hate seeing you like this."

"No, it's fine." He wiped the tears away. "I have to go lie down. I'm tired. Too tired. I need to get some sleep. I need to try."

"It's barely night," Fred observed. "Are you sure? What about Connor?"

"I don't know what to do. Maybe some sleep will help clear my head? All I know is I can't just stand around waiting for solutions to pop up in front of my face."

"Angel, if you need to talk, it's not like you don't have anyone to talk to. I understand completely. None of this is easy for either of us. It's hard. Extremely hard to live with this. That doesn't mean it's the end, though."

"I know it isn't. Trust me, I know. I'm going to go lie down now, Fred. I'll see you later."

Angel didn't bother waiting for a response; he turned around and left the office.

* * *

Later, Spike walked over to Harmony's desk and laid his elbows on it and rested his head on his hands. Harmony looked up at Spike, confused. He just stayed there and stared a little in her direction, but past her, at the wall, as if avoiding her stare.

"Umm, do you need something?" Harmony asked, clearly annoyed with him. She didn't understand why he was here. Didn't he know that she didn't want to talk to him, because she didn't? He was such a disgusting jerk; a freak, really. What kind of vampire slept with the Slayer? The Slayer! How revolting.

"Nope," Spike said. "I'm just thinking."

"Yeah, well, can you go be all thoughtful and creepy somewhere else? I'm trying to do some work here." Her words dripped acid.

"Work for what, exactly, love? Because last I checked there weren't many clients left."

She snorted. "I do more work than you do. I mean, what have you done in the last, like, ever that was useful to anybody?

"In my defense, I did just watch an evil man die and make sure he stayed dead. That must count for something, right?"

"No. It doesn't." Harmony flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Okay, Harm, come on. Work with me here."

"Ugh, what do you even want from me? I'm not your precious Slayer or anything, so how could I even compare? How could I work with you here in any way possible, Spike, how?"

"I miss her. The Slayer, that is. But I'm pretty sure that's done with. She won't want to see me again. And look, I've had a stressful day, and I'm sure you have too. So, yeah. Please just…_work…_with me here." He put a lot of emphasis on "work."

"I hate you," Harmony said to defend herself. Still, despite her hatred towards her Blondie Bear, minutes later they were kissing in an empty office room, and soon they were doing a lot more than just kissing.

* * *

Wesley came back into his office to find Fred already waiting there with one major difference. The lights were off and multiple candles spread around the office were lit. There were plates on the table and food from somewhere in the building on those plates. Fred was on the side of the table facing the doorway with a smile on her face. Her glasses were off and her hair was down.

"You said just the two of us, right?"

Wes smiled brighter than he ever had before. "Yes, I did."

"Well, come on. Sit down and let's eat. I'm sorry about the food, by the way. Leftover spaghetti probably isn't the most romantic meal of all time, but it's what I could find."

He walked over, sat down, and looked at Fred. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. So…it's done?"

"It is. Now no more work talk. It's just the two of us; we could talk about anything in the world."

Fred pulled out a bottle of wine she had found and poured a few glasses. They were normal cups, not wine glasses, so it looked a little strange, but in a funny way. They shared a laugh. And when they began to eat, they had nice, normal conversation. At the end of their "date" they even kissed, like a normal couple on an actual date. They were both sad when their little date had to actually come to an end.

"I don't want this to end," Wes told her.

"Me neither. I guess that means we'll have to do this again?"

"Oh, certainly." They kissed again.

* * *

Sometime during the night, after waking up from a few nightmare-filled sleeps, Angel managed to fall asleep and remain that way, without any nightmares.

Spike left Harmony sleeping and went to walk around, but eventually fell asleep inside a different empty office.

Wes and Fred both fell asleep with Fred locked inside Wes's arms yet again.

Gunn and Lorne fell asleep inside their own seperate offices, each with different thoughts and questions about what tomorrow may bring.

And sometime during the night, a boy named Connor who had extra strength due to part of an ancient demon inside of him broke the chains that were surrounding him and keeping him in place.

To be continued…


	11. Chapter 11

Morning arrived and Angel stirred awake. He was surprised, mostly; to realize that he actually got a good amount of sleep in the night. And then, once the surprise wore off, he felt guilty. Because he did this to himself, to the world—he chose for so many people die, so he shouldn't be able to actually fall asleep without any consequences. He had nightmares before, sure, and he should keep having them. That was, at the very least, what he deserved, right? Or was it unfair for him to have nightmares because of Connor and what was happening to him?

He threw off the covers and managed to climb out of bed. He made his way to the shower, like he did every morning. He followed his same morning routine despite knowing that things were far from normal.

When Angel was finished, dressed and everything, he went to his elevator and up to his office. He knew he should go check in on Connor. Deep inside, though, he wasn't ready for that yet. Not yet. Later he would, of course, but now, right now, he wasn't ready. It was too early to have to deal with whatever problems there were.

Angel sat at his desk, wondering if there was anything he could do while waiting until he was ready.

He glanced at his phone. Buffy still hadn't called him back. She said she'd call him back whenever she had the time and they would talk about what went on over here to cause so many people to die. How long ago was that? It felt like a million years ago, when in reality it was just a couple of days.

Should he call her? No, he didn't want to bother her. She'd be fine and she'd call when she was ready.

* * *

Anne was also just waking up at the sun rose and stayed high in the sky. She didn't move, though. Instead she stayed there, in bed, watching the empty streets outside of the guest room in her friend's apartment.

Why should she get out of bed? What, exactly, was the point? She heard; she knew that everyone—or almost everyone, at least—in part of the world was dead. Some of L.A. was safe, and some of it was gone. Some of L.A. Did that mean what she thought it meant? She really should've asked Gunn when he was here.

Her kids, all of them, were probably in the shelter. Was the shelter hit? Were they all…?

Anne closed her eyes to block the tears. She didn't want to think about this. She couldn't. She loved every single one of those teens more than anything, and bearing the thought that they might not have survived… She wouldn't do it. They were alive. They _had _to be. If they weren't, everything in her life that lead up to this had no point. All the events in her life led her to become this woman who ran the shelter and saved teens, because she wished someone had saved her as a teen. She tried to help, tried to do good, and for what? So they could all die?

No, she wasn't just going to sit back and pretend her kids were dead, because they had to be alive. They had to be.

But even Anne had her doubts. What if they weren't? She shouldn't think that way, she knew she shouldn't. She couldn't help herself.

As she laid in bed thinking about her kids and how much they all meant to her and how much she wished them to be alive, the tears she held back before were now streaming down her face and on to the pillow beneath her head.

* * *

The teleportation spell sure took a lot longer than she expected it would. It seemed like she was just standing there in the living room and the next thing she knew she blacked out, and every time she woke up there was just more black and darkness. She wasn't sure how teleportation spells worked, so she wasn't sure if this was how they were supposed to work out.

Willow said it might take a while for her to arrive in Los Angeles, given the huge distance between Rome and L.A. Still, Faith never expected it to take this long, and for her to float in and out of consciousness for this amount of time. It was a teleportation spell, and she expected it to be quick and then she'd be in L.A. Apparently, that's not how they worked.

In all honesty, she never expected Willow to say that she should go. Surely Willow would've preferred if her great friend Buffy went to L.A. to talk to Angel, but maybe not, seeing as she chose Faith. Faith did know that Red cared for Angel, though, and had helped him gain his soul back many times. Faith supposed that meant Willow wanted her to go so that if Angel really was Angelus, she wouldn't just run up and stake him, she'd fight for him and attempt to get his soul back. Buffy, on the other hand…well, they weren't too sure about where she stood in all of this, whereas with Faith it was clear.

That was the plan. Faith had all of twenty-four hours to find Angel and talk to him. At that point, Willow would do another spell whether Faith was ready or not that brought her back to Rome.

There was just one problem that emerged when Faith arrived in L.A.

Where she arrived was nowhere near the Wolfram & Hart building. In fact, she had no idea where she was, because why would she? Most of her time in L.A. she spent in prison or in the Hyperion. So where should she go? She had no idea where.

Faith made out a plan to find the Hyperion Hotel and work her way from there.

* * *

Buffy sat down on the couch, exhausted. She hadn't really slept too much in the past couple of days, either, especially now with everything with Faith and Angel going on. Faith got to go to L.A. while Buffy had to stay here and deal with all the angry Slayers, including Kennedy. It just sucked, Buffy concluded. Everything was going fine and then it was just so suddenly that the world changed and all the people Buffy looked after were angry and looking for answers and someone to blame. She understood they wanted someone to blame, but why did it have to be Angel? Why did they want to jump right in and attack without even finding out if it was truly Angel who had something to do with all this?

Willow walked into the living room. Buffy wasn't angry at Willow for choosing Faith. Actually, she kind of expected it.

"Hey," Willow said as she sat down next to Buffy.

"Hi," Buffy said back.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just thought that, you know, Angel and Faith just have this history. I mean, so do you and Angel, but-"

"Don't worry, Will. I understand. I think you made the right choice. I really shouldn't leave this place anyway, with all the Slayers angry and everything. Trust me; I'm not mad at you."

"Thanks, Buffy. I just wanted to make sure."

"Well, you did," Buffy said and then placed her hand over her mouth to cover a yawn.

"You're tired?" Willow questioned. "You should get some sleep."

"Will, I-"

"Buffy, I am perfectly capable of taking care of things for a while if you go lie down. And if there's some type of emergency you know I'll wake you up."

She sighed. "Thanks. I think you're right. I'm gonna go lie down. Thanks for being here, Willow."

"Like I have anywhere else to be?" Willow joked.

Buffy laughed. "That's true. I'll see you later, Will."

"Goodnight, Buffy."

Minutes after Buffy left to go lay down and Willow made some tea, there was a knock at the door. It was a quite knock, barely audible enough for Willow to even hear, but it was definitely there.

She set her tea down and went to answer the door, almost feeling déjà vu. The last time there was a knock at the door she opened it to find Faith. Who would she find this time?

Willow opened the door, almost dreading whoever could be on the other side, ready to start some controversy. It could be Giles looking for Faith, Xander because he had joked about coming here before—hadn't he?—and it could also be Spike because apparently he was alive or it could be-

It couldn't be who was really there.

"Oh," she said weakly, surprised.

"Willow," Oz spoke slowly, clearly finding his own surprise in finding that Willow was the one to answer the door.

They both stared at each other, neither sure which should speak first.

* * *

A little bit after Wes woke up, he realized that he had nothing to do. He believed the only real reason any of them were here, at Wolfram & Hart, was because not too many people wanted to go home and be alone in the empty silence that now was L.A. They wanted to stay here, where there were people, so they wouldn't have to suffer alone. Wes had to admit that he didn't want to go home either, especially since Fred was staying here and he wanted to be there for her.

But anyway, there was nothing to do, and soon Wes was bored, lost. There were no clients and nobody paying anybody. What would be the point of deciphering old texts now, when no one seemed to care? There were no immediate apocalypses that he or anyone knew of. There was only Connor, who, by all means, was something entirely new to everyone.

So what should he do? Decipher those old texts anyway? Sure, maybe, but for how long? He couldn't just sit in this office forever and translate texts. There had to be something more.

With the amount of people left in this part of the world, what could he really do, though? In fact, what should the remaining people in L.A. do? Just stay and eventually die? No, that wouldn't make any sense. The more he thought about it, the only option he saw was everybody moving. Everybody left on this part of the world should just leave, go to the part that was safe and live among people again. That seemed like some sort of a solution, in a way. Although, they couldn't just abandon this part of the world, could they? That would be wrong, for some reason. So many people died in their homes, and it would seem wrong if they were to just get up and leave. And even if they were to just leave and go to the other remaining countries, they'd have to wait until they figured out everything about Connor and if he was a threat, a danger to the world.

The future was looming over them, all of them, though, and they needed to figure out some kind of plan. At least, that's what Wesley thought.

Fred was also awake, and she was not thinking about the impending future, like Wesley. She was thinking all about Connor. How and why would a part of Illyria be broken inside of him? Was there a way to save him? She could tell that what was happening to Connor was really affecting Angel in negative ways, and she wanted to help with that. How could they help if they just looked through books all day, searching for anything that could be remotely useful? The only way to find out was to get close to Connor, to test him… Maybe that was just the physicist in her wanting to experiment, but it made sense. They would never be able to figure out what was wrong with Connor and if there was a cure until they actually tested it.

"Wesley," Fred began, forming a plan in her mind and getting ready to fulfill it.

"Yes?"

"I want to go see Connor. I can't just sit around all day, hoping something good may come out of nothing. It's unfair what's happening to this boy, and we should try to help. I think if I get a blood sample I could test it and see how affected it is and maybe search for some kind of cure, or anything."

"I was just thinking that we can't sit around all day, too," Wes said. "That sounds like a good plan. We'd have to talk to Angel about it, though. You know how defensive he got about Connor before."

"I know. I think he'll understand, though."

"Probably. I'll come with you."

"Wesley," Fred smiled, "I don't need you to come with me everywhere. I'll be fine."

"Well, I still want to be there. Connor is clearly…not fully aware of what he is doing, and I couldn't bear the thought of him hurting you."

"He's chained up."

He shrugged. "Still. Now, should we go?"

Fred rolled her eyes in a joking way. "Okay, let's go."

* * *

"You jerk!" Harmony yelled at Spike. "You just used me and then left me all by myself? Who do you think you are? What if someone came in there wanting to stake me?! I could be dead right now, Spike! And I mean dead for good."

Harmony found Spike walking around in the lobby after last night. When she woke up earlier, realizing he was gone, she freaked out. Why would Spike do that to her?

"Relax, Harm, nobody wants to stake you."

"Um, do you not remember the incident with that bitch Tamika who tried to kill me?"

Spike rolled his eyes. He really made a mistake last night, didn't he? Harmony was always way too clingy and annoying. In his defense, though, he didn't lead her on to thinking he wanted a relationship or anything. It was just one night.

"Answer me, Blondie Bear, or I swear I will-"

"Harmonica, Harmonica, why are you yelling?" Lorne asked, walking up to them. "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole building could hear you."

Harmony scoffed. "Do you know what he did to me?" she pointed at Spike.

"I didn't do anything, love. I'm outta here." Spike left without allowing Harmony another chance to speak.

"Oh, Harm," Lorne said. "When are you going to learn to get a better taste in guys? You know you shouldn't do anything with Spike. You've been down this road before, I do believe."

"I know. It's just that he's, like, so hard to resist and say no to. He does not quit. I try to tell him no and he just doesn't give up."

"Stay strong," Lorne advised. "That's all I can really tell you."

"Yeah," Harmony moaned. It was just so hard for her to stay strong and composed around Spike. Usually she was great and in control, but not around Spike. Why was it like that, anyway? Why did she have such a weakness when it came to Spike?

* * *

Fred grabbed a needle she could use to draw blood and then she and Wes made their way to Angel's office. Angel was just sitting at his desk, sort of staring off into space.

"How'd you sleep?" Fred asked immediately once she walked in.

Angel looked up at her and Wes. "Okay, actually," he answered truthfully. "A few nightmares, but then after it was smooth-sailing."

"You know, I've been thinking," Wes started, "if you want to sleep without the nightmares I'm sure there's something we could do for you, like give you herbs or medicine or something that would put you to sleep without the dreams."

"Yeah," Angel frowned, unsure. "I'll think about it. For now I just…I feel like I need them. At one point I'll consider sleeping without them, but for now…"

"I understand."

"So listen," Fred started off. "Wes and I have been thinking. There's no easy way to say this really, Angel. I think you should let Wes and I go down to see Connor."

"No," Angel answered instantly, not even having to think about it. He couldn't let them go see Connor, not when there was a chance the Illyria inside of him could tell them about the past and what really happened.

"Angel, I-"

"Fred, I said no. I just don't think it's safe."

"Angel, in all due respect, we can handle ourselves," Wesley told him. "We've been through a lot, we all have. Plus, Connor's chained up. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know, but what if…" Angel trailed off. How could he convince them? "Connor's saying things, crazy things, you know that. I just don't want him to say something crazy to you guys and for you guys to take it personally."

"We won't," Fred reassured Angel. "We'll go in, get a blood sample, and then get out."

"Blood sample?"

"I want to test it."

"Fred, are you sure that's a good idea? Is that what you really want?"

"Yes," she said definitely.

Angel wanted to keep arguing, to tell them they couldn't go. But, really, who was he to say they shouldn't? They were perfectly capable of handling themselves, like Wes said, and they promised him they wouldn't take anything Connor said too literally. That should make it okay for them to go down, right? And besides, all in all, maybe a blood test would help. The chances of that helping were slim, sure, but still, Angel had to try everything, and this was something.

"Okay," Angel told Fred and Wesley. "If you want to, go ahead."

"Thanks, Angel. Don't worry about us at all. We'll be okay."

Angel nodded. "I know."

Wes and Fred turned around and left the office.

* * *

Connor had strategically placed the chains around him and blocked the view of his arms and the handcuffs so that it looked like he was still all tied up. If someone were to look close enough, they would see he wasn't all tied up, but he hoped no one would be looking closely. In reality, Connor could have left this place last night and gotten away before anyone knew he was gone. He didn't want to do that, though. Now that he was free and hidden, he'd have an opportunity for when Angel came back.

Inside his head, the actual Connor was still trying to fight. For the most part, it wasn't working, because the actual Connor was breaking through less and less, and the Illyria inside of him almost always had control over him.

He heard the door to where the cells were open.

Connor stiffened and tried the best he could to look natural, to make it look like he was still tied up. He made a wide grin and made sure his eyes were open pure and wide so Angel would see how blue they were. Instead of Angel coming to visit him, though, he recognized two of his friends, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Winifred Burkle, otherwise known as Wes and Fred. Illyria went through Connor's head to remember all about these two he could—both extremely smart with an attraction towards one another and both extremely loyal to Angel. Wes had, at one time, stolen Connor from Angel and, in result, gotten his throat slit and was abandoned by everybody. Neither Wes nor Fred even remembered Connor, though.

_Well, this should be fun._

"Where's Angel?" Connor asked. "I thought he'd want to see his son again. Or is he too weak to face what I am?"

Fred neared the cell and Wes stayed behind. She had a needle that she was trying to extend forward and reach Connor with.

Connor wasn't going to let it go that easy. He pretended to struggle. He shook as slightly as he could so he wouldn't make the chains move too much. He moved his neck back and forth as wildly as he could so she couldn't get the needle in without harming him. Eventually, she backed away.

"I don't want to hurt you. I just want some of your blood," she told him.

"Oh, why, are you a vampire now? Did Daddy turn you? Or are you trying to do something to me? If so, I wouldn't recommend it, in case you want Angel to hate you and attempt to kill you. Isn't that right, Wesley?"

"What are you talking about?" Fred asked. "Why do you keep referring to Angel as your father?"

"Why shouldn't I? He is my father, remember? Oh, wait, you don't. Good-old memory spells hiding the truth. Nope, don't remember Connor, because he's a crazy mess. I, on the other hand, am so much worse. That's why I'm simply mystified Angel would let you two come down here."

"Look, I don't want to hurt you, Connor," Fred began.

"It's Illyria. Connor's gone. Or almost gone. Hopefully he'll fade away after a while."

"I just want some of your blood," she continued. "Please."

"Why should I allow that? You're trying to help Connor."

"Connor," Wesley spoke, "if you can hear us fight Illyria. If you can come up long enough for Fred to take your blood, we can help you."

Just for a second, Connor's eyes turned brown, but a mere second later they were blue again.

"Sorry," Connor/Illyria fake apologized.

"Listen, Illyria, why are you fighting this?" Fred tried to talk to him reasonably. "You must know we won't find anything. So why does it bother you? You being like this just shows us that there's a weakness inside of you."

He shook his head. "I have nothing to hide. I am powerful, more powerful than anyone could ever wish to be."

"Really?"

He sighed. "Fine. You can take some blood. But not with _him _here. Only if you're down here alone, Fred."

Fred looked back at Wes. Clearly she was signaling for him to leave, but he was staying put with a look on his face that said "I'm not leaving". Fred pleaded for him to go. It took some convincing, but finally Wes agreed to leave.

"I'll be outside," he told her. He didn't want to leave, but apparently he had no choice. He started to walk away, and then he was gone.

"Goody, goody, we're all alone," Connor taunted. "Now come on, Doctor. I'm ready to have my blood drawn."

* * *

Angel shook his head. This was a mistake, wasn't it? They shouldn't be down there right now with such a dangerous thing like Connor. He stood up and left his office, getting ready to make his way down the building to the main lobby and then to the basement where the cells were. On the way, he happened to run into Gunn.

"Hey, Angel, I need to talk to you."

"Walk with me," Angel told him and they went into an elevator. "What's up?"

"Look, I just want to tell you some good news we haven't exactly talked about yet. Lorne and I, well, we found someone. Anne, you know, we found her. She's alive. She's not dead."

Angel turned to look Gunn. "Anne's alive? What about all the kids?"

"They weren't so lucky. But still, that's some good news, isn't it? An innocent woman could've died but she's alive."

"Millions of other innocent people still died."

Gunn sighed angrily. "So that's it? We don't look at the positive, we look at the negative? Well, if that's how you wanna do it then-"

The elevator doors opened, interrupting Gunn. Angel walked out and Gunn followed, still wanting to talk with Angel. They found Wes standing in the middle, looking nervously to the door to the basement.

"Wes? What's going on?" the vampire questioned his friend.

"Fred's in there."

"Alone?" Angel exploded. "Wes, I specifically said that-"

"Connor wanted her alone," Wes stated.

"That's even worse!" Angel responded.

"Angel, I'm sure it's fine," Gunn tried to coax. It wasn't working.

"We have to go get her out of there," Angel said and started walking towards the door.

* * *

Fred neared the cell and put both her arms through it, reaching for Connor. She shook slightly, but managed to cut it out so she didn't appear too nervous. She knew that would give Connor/Illyria some kind of satisfaction.

Right as Fred was close to Connor, all hell seemed to break lose.

Out of nowhere Connor jumped up and all the chains surrounding his body fell off in loud clanks that hurt Fred's ears. She didn't have time to pull away as he leaped forward and grabbed her arms, making her drop the needle. She yelped as he pulled her forward so her face was pushed up against the cell bars.

With one hand, Connor reached over and easily yanked one of the bars away, giving him enough room to walk out of the cell. He still held on to Fred, and now he was behind her, grabbing her like a shield. She cried out, but he put his hand over her mouth to make her be quiet. Connor walked forward, towards the door to get out of this basement with these cells. After a few steps, he ordered Fred to open the door. She listened, knowing she would have no chance if she attempted to fight against Connor.

The door swung open and Connor stepped out with Fred still in front of him. They both saw Angel, Wes, and Gunn in front of them, and they each stopped and stared when they saw what was going on.

"Fred!" Wes called out and attempted to step forward, but Angel stopped him. He wanted to rescue Fred, of course, but he knew they would have no luck to go against Connor right now. He didn't even know how he managed to escape.

"Hello, father. Hello, Wes, nice to see you again. And Gunn, I don't think you've officially met me yet. Then again, technically you have."

"Let her go," Angel commanded Connor.

"Do you think I'll listen to you? No? Well good, because I won't. Here's how this is going to go down. I'm going to walk out of here with Fred as hostage, and if any of you even _try _to attack I will snap her neck. So I suggest you get out of my way."

Wes was breathing heavily. He couldn't do this; he couldn't just stand here and let this monster take her! There had to be something he could do, some way to save her. If Connor were to take her, who knew what he could do to her. Wes couldn't allow that to happen, and he was willing to do anything to save Fred—like Angel was days before when he allowed so many people to die—and before he knew what he was really thinking he called out and everyone turned to him.

"Take me instead!" he yelled.

"Wesley," Angel tried to fight against it, but shut up when he saw how serious Wes was.

"Leave her alone," he told Connor/Illyria. "Trade her for me. You can still walk out of here with a hostage if you just take me instead of her."

Connor/Illyria was actually quite stunned, so stunned he dropped his hand from Fred's mouth, although he still held on to her so she wouldn't run away.

"Wesley, no!" she screamed.

"Interesting," Connor said slowly, thinking. "I should've seen this coming. Why didn't I?"

"Please," Wes begged. "Just take me instead. Then you can walk right out of here."

Both Angel and Gunn wanted to tell Wes he didn't have to do that. If they did, though, then Fred would be taken and neither wanted her to be taken. They didn't want Wes taken either, of course. What could they do? How could they stop this? Was there even a way to? Angel was even desperate enough to be hoping that Spike came down and managed to distract Connor long enough for them to rescue Fred.

Spike didn't come, though.

"Fine," Connor concluded after thinking. "I agree. A trade."

Wesley slowly stepped forward. When he was in front of Connor, he threw Fred aside and grabbed on to Wes the same way he grabbed on to Fred before he could move. Angel ran over to the side and checked on Fred to make sure she was really okay.

"Now I'm going to leave," he told Angel, Gunn, and Fred. "Like I said, no attacks, or Wesley here will die. I don't think any of you want him to die, so that wouldn't be good."

Without any more words, he made his way towards the door, ready to leave the building. Nobody moved to stop him, although Fred watched them leave with tears streaming down her face, wishing, hoping that Wes would be okay and the Illyria inside Connor wouldn't hurt him.

Before they knew it, Wes was gone, and so was Connor/Illyria. It pained Fred to watch them leave through the door, Wes a violent, unnecessary hostage, only there because he saved Fred.

"Wesley," she whimpered and Angel hugged her, trying to send her a sign that everything would be okay.

"We'll go after him," he told her. "We'll go after him."

* * *

Lorne, Spike, and Harmony soon heard what happened. They each had their own separate reactions.

Lorne left and went into his office and let a few tears fall. Why was this happening to them? Could they save Wesley?

Harmony attempted to be helpful and full of support, but it wasn't working and Angel got mad at her and sent her away.

Spike was angry he wasn't there to do something to help Fred; or Wesley, for that matter. So angry, in fact, that he walked up to a wall and punched it, creating a hole. He then walked off, silently and alone, wondering if there was a way to save Wes.

* * *

Angel, Gunn, and Fred gathered in Angel's office.

"We need to think of a plan," Gunn stated the obvious. "We have to rescue Wes from that monster."

"How?" Fred cried out. She was still crying. "He could go anywhere with Wesley, Charles."

"That doesn't mean we should just give up."

"I'm not saying we give up, I'm asking what we can do. We need to save him. We…I need him. I can't live without him. I love him."

"Guys," Angel stopped them. "We need to think. Illyria wouldn't just bring him anywhere. She doesn't know anything about L.A. or about this world. She only knows what Connor knows, and he doesn't know that much. We just have to think about where he may go."

"No," Gunn argued. "Illyria would realize that would be too predictable, and she has to be smarter than that."

"Then where will he bring Wesley?" Fred raised the question.

Nobody had an answer.

* * *

What everybody overlooked was that somewhere predictable was exactly where Illyria wanted to go with Wes. She knew that Angel and his friends wouldn't think of going back to the Hyperion because of how obvious it was to bring him there, the only true place Connor ever really knew. And even if they did realize where Wes would be, Illyria wanted that to happen. Illyria wanted Angel and Fred and everybody to find Wes whenever she in Connor's body was done with him.

It took forever to drag Wes to the Hyperion, mainly because he was being difficult and resisting. Because of this, it almost took Connor/Illyria hours to find the Hyperion and bring Wes inside.

Unfortunately for Connor/Illyria, he didn't see as the Slayer named Faith neared and saw somebody practically dragging someone else into the Hyperion Hotel.

To be continued…


	12. Chapter 12

He was alone. The others were off somewhere, devising plans to save Wes hours after he was taken, but he was alone, in his office. He needed to think, and being around the others wouldn't help right now. There was one thing nagging him. The memory spell. It was becoming harder and harder to make it secret now that everyone was officially involved in what was happening to Connor since he took Wes. When Gunn, Lorne, Wes, and Fred were off only mildly thinking about Connor, they weren't really a part of it yet. But now they were, now that Wes was taken. They'd start asking questions. How long could he keep this memory spell up?

The truth was, Angel couldn't keep the memory spell. It was affecting everybody and making everything a thousand times more difficult than they should be. The return of the memories would pain everybody, but at this point Angel didn't see that there was much of a choice, whether he was ready for them to know the truth or not.

He always knew the memory spell would come back and bite him in the ass, didn't he? Well, he should have known.

Would lifting the memory spell help Wesley at this point in time? He was taken by Connor, and would remembering help him or hurt him? Certainly it wouldn't help against Illyria, but maybe if he truly remembered Connor he could talk and try to get Connor to break through, allowing Wes time to escape. Or would the onslaught of memories hurt Wes more than anything? It would surely take time for him to get used to remembering the fact that at one time everyone had hated him for what he did and he used to be excluded from Angel Investigations and almost died.

Angel wished these decisions could be easy. They weren't, though, and they never would be. He had to decide which was best for the team. If everyone remembered Connor, then maybe they would be able to help more, in some way.

Spike walked into Angel's office. Angel forgot that he wasn't off with the others, making plans.

"What do you want, Spike?" Angel asked.

"Gotta talk to you, Angel."

"Well, look, I'm in the middle of making some major decisions, so I think that-"

"Would you stop for just a bloody second? I'm serious, here. I didn't walk in here callin' you a 'poof' or any one of my glorious nicknames I got for you. So you should know I'm serious." The look on Spike's face was definitely serious. He wasn't joking around or trying to annoy Angel. He really had something that he needed to say.

"What is it?" Angel asked Spike, wondering what could be on his mind.

"There's no easy way to say this. I guess I should have just said it in the beginning, but in all honesty I didn't really give a damn. Now, I can't wait any longer."

"What are you talking about?"

Spike sat down in the chair on the other side of Angel's desk. "I remember Connor," Spike deadpanned.

Angel frowned. What was he talking about? "What do you mean?"

"Angel, did you not think I knew about Connor? Back in Sunnydale when Faith and Willow came back from L.A. to help us defeat the First, they told us about your son. Plus, we knew about him even before then. Still, I know a lot about Connor, and I didn't say anything when he first came in here and they had no idea about anyone named Connor. You're lucky I stayed quiet."

Angel's head exploded. He put a hand on his forehead and leaned on his desk. How had he overlooked this? Why didn't he ever think about this?! Of course he knew he didn't do the memory spell on any of the Scoobies, but it never actually occurred to him that Spike would remember things he'd heard about Connor.

"Oh, God," Angel whispered. "Spike…I don't know what to say. Thank you, I guess, for not saying anything."

"It's alright, mate. I'm telling you now that I think you should tell them about your son. It'll help."

"You don't know everything that happened with Connor. You don't know the horrible things that occurred."

"I don't. But keepin' them in the dark isn't helping anything."

He nodded, but didn't respond. What else could he say to Spike? Angel was actually embarrassed that he never even thought about Spike remembering Connor.

"I have to ask, Angel, why didn't you get rid of our memories too, all those Scoobies, I mean? I don't know how you did it, but I'm sure ours could've been erased as well."

Angel shook his head. "It was too much. Nobody but Willow and Faith even met Connor, and that was just for a short amount of time, and I knew none of them would come to L.A. anytime often or in the future, so I figured I was fine. In the beginning I knew I couldn't rid of all of your memories of Connor. You guys weren't affected by Connor, and part of the deal was also having everyone come work at Wolfram & Hart, so I don't know if Lilah would have even allowed for me to rid Connor from all of your memories as well."

"Who's Lilah?"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Don't ask; that's a long story."

"Okay, whatever. I just want to know what you're planning on doing. Are you going to reveal the truth?"

Angel paused. "I don't know yet," he answered truthfully.

"Well, it's your spell, your decision. I just wanted you to know that I think it'll help for them to know."

"I'm thinking about it, Spike. I'm just not sure quite yet."

"Well, you better decide quickly."

The door to the office opened and Harmony walked in. "Boss, they need to see you. They have a plan." She ignored Spike completely.

Angel nodded. If he was going to decide what to do about the memory spell, he'd have to do it later.

* * *

Buffy, Willow, and Oz were in the living room. They were all sitting on the couch, Buffy between Willow and Oz. Willow and Oz had still yet to talk too much, neither knowing what to say or what could be said. Neither of them knew the other was going to be at Buffy's apartment, so they were each trying to get over some shock.

When Buffy woke up, she found Oz and Willow sitting in silence. She was surprised herself. She hadn't expected Oz to show up so quickly.

"Willow, Oz?" she said. They were all still sitting on the couch. "It'd probably be a good idea to talk."

Willow stood up and started pacing, almost nervously. She stopped suddenly in front of Oz. "What are you doing here?" she asked, not knowing if there was anything else she could say.

Oz looked at Buffy. She hadn't told Willow? "I talked to Buffy on the phone," Oz started. "After all those people died I wanted to know what was going on and if you all were okay. She said you were. I thought she'd tell you I talked to her."

Willow looked at Buffy.

"I-I'm sorry," Buffy stuttered with a little shrug. "There was just so much going on I didn't have time. I meant to though, I swear. Plus, I didn't even know he was going to show up. I didn't ask him to come or anything, and I surely didn't invite him."

"Human being with feelings here," Oz defended himself to Buffy's comments.

"I didn't mean it like that," Buffy went on. "It's great to see you, Oz." Buffy and Oz shared a brief hug.

"Where were you?" Willow questioned when they pulled apart. "When all those people died, I mean."

"I was back in Tibet," Oz answered, then stopped. He didn't elaborate about what he was doing there or how long he was there. "I'm glad you're okay," he told Willow.

"Baby, I was thinking that…" Kennedy stopped once she walked into the living room from the hall and saw the strange guy sitting there that she'd never seen before. She wasn't sure how to react based on the looks of Buffy and Willow's faces. "Who's this?"

Willow walked over to her girlfriend. "Kennedy, this is…um…this is Oz."

She looked at Willow incredulously. "Oz? The Oz you dated?"

"Yeah," Oz spoke up from the couch. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kennedy, Willow's girlfriend." She shot Oz a hard look. "Wish I could say it's nice to meet you."

"Kennedy," Willow hissed under her breath.

"What happened to Tara?" Oz asked.

Willow's heart broke at the mention of her name, but she contained herself.

"Oz, this isn't the right time to discuss everything that's happened," Buffy interrupted the conversation. "We'll definitely have to talk about it later, though. For now, I'm just wondering what exactly you're doing here."

"I wanted to be here," he said. "I was concerned for all of you. I couldn't get you guys out of my head, even if you were all okay. I'm sorry if I came so suddenly."

"Don't apologize," Buffy told him. "We're happy to have you here. Although we are a bit tight on space…"

"I don't need to stay," Oz said, standing up. "I should go anyway."

"No, Oz, please, I insist you stay," Buffy told her old friend. "The couch is open, if you don't mind sleeping on a couch. It's pretty comfortable, as you can tell."

"Is that okay with you?" Oz questioned and it took Willow a minute to realize he was asking her.

"Oh, oh, yeah, sure," Willow said. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kennedy look at her as if she was confused. Willow didn't care, though. Oz was their friend and she wasn't just going to kick him out just because they had a history together.

Still, things were bound to be awkward around here for a while.

* * *

Even though Faith did see someone dragging someone else into the Hyperion (she was too far away to see who was dragging who), she wasn't sure whether she should be alarmed or not. From the distance she was, she couldn't tell if the person being dragged was alive or dead. The person had to be dead, though, considering that was how everyone in L.A. was, right?

Since she sensed no immediate alarm, she began to make her way to where she thought she remembered the Wolfram & Hart building to be.

On the way, though, she couldn't get the image of that person dragging the other person into the hotel. There was something odd about it and something that wouldn't leave her head. Even though it wasn't her mission, she decided to go back and check to see what was going on, just to make sure.

* * *

Since Faith took some time to walk away from the Hyperion; that gave Connor a little extra time to be with Wesley. He dragged Wes into the old office that was formerly used by both Wes and Angel. He found some old rope and tied Wes's wrists together and then tied the end of the rope to something above him so his arms were held up against his head and he was sitting on the ground, up against the wall.

Connor, feeling confident, left Wes there alone, and went and walked around the Hyperion for a few minutes. Wes tried to escape, but the ropes were tied too tight.

When Connor came back, he had a creepy smile on his face that made his uncanny blue eyes freakier. In one of his hands he held a long, pointy knife that he was swinging back and forth very slowly. His eyes were locked on Wes, and he wasn't looking away.

"You know, I'm glad you chose to come with me instead of letting me take Fred." He walked over to Wes and kneeled in front of him. "We have so much more to talk about, anyway. We have so much more in common, as well. If I brought Fred with me, we wouldn't have nearly as much fun as the two of us can."

Wesley suddenly spit in Connor's face. Connor stood quickly and backed up. With the back of his hand, he wiped the spit off his face. Instead of reacting angrily, he laughed.

"That's the best you got?" he asked. "I know you're tied up, but still. What happened to the old Wes, the one who was willing to take a baby away from his father without telling anybody, no matter what the costs? Oh, yeah, that's right. Memory spell."

"What are you talking about?" Wes responded.

Connor jumped forward and quickly ran the knife against Wes's bicep. He shut his eyes and took a sharp pang of breath in.

"Did that hurt?" Connor questioned innocently. "I hope it did. Pain may be the key. That's how it was for old-Connor up here inside my head. One lash of pain and he remembered everything. Or maybe that was just because an Old One came into contact with him and it had nothing to do with pain. Huh. It's something to wonder, isn't it?"

"Who are you?" Wes asked. "If you're going to lash out more, I'd really like to know what you're talking about."

"Oh, Wesley—poor, poor Wesley. This body's name is Connor. If you think about it—and I mean really think—you might remember me." He gave Wes a minute to think. "No? You don't remember me? Well, that's really interesting. You know what else I think is interesting? That scar," Connor pointed the sharp end of the knife to Wes's throat, where it was slit by Justine. The sharp edge was inches away from Wes. "Tell me, how exactly do you explain that scar since you don't know the truth?"

Wes tried to not let most of what Connor was saying faze him. "A harsh woman named Justine slit my throat, trying to kill me. She was working with another evil man named Holtz who was trying to destroy Angel. I just got in the way of that."

"Hm," Connor scratched his head. "That's sort of close to the truth, I guess."

"You wouldn't even know. You weren't there."

"No, but technically Connor was, even as a baby. And later on he heard about what you did."

"Who is Connor, Illyria?"

Connor grinned. "Who is Connor? Stellar question, Wes. Connor's pretty much a jerk, I might say. He was a jerk who tried to kill his father and his friends on more than one occasion. Angel still loved him, though, God bless his soul. I don't know how he did it."

"You are Illyria, but you are not how I would imagine an Old One," Wes told Connor. "They are supposed to be the oldest demons in the world. You don't speak like one."

"Yeah, well, technically I'm not," Connor said. "I'm not all of Illyria, you know. I'm just some of her. I guess the actual Old One part of me is missing. I'm kind of the _mind _of Illyria, I guess you could say, and mixed with Connor's mind my own words and actions are very different than how Illyria would actually be. And since I'm only part of me here, I'm not as much of an Old One as I'd like to think I am. I'm still Illyria, though, no matter how much of her." Connor frowned. "Are you trying to get me distracted, Wes? Smooth move, but it won't work."

"I wasn't trying to-"

Connor brought the knife against Wes's throat, barely touching it, not hard enough to draw blood yet. "You know what else I wonder? How it'd feel for you to get your throat slit just yet again. Maybe this time we'll see if anyone comes to save you."

Illyria inside of Connor was ready to do it, and she was about to, but, miraculously, Connor had a moment of strength and fought back.

_Go away!_

Connor screamed in his head and the Illyria inside of him shriveled down and he managed to come back on top, to become himself. Wes saw his eyes turn brown. Connor backed up a few steps, was ready to try and run away, when Illyria began to fight back.

_You will not! I will rise inside of you. I am in control!_

Connor wanted so desperately to be able to fight back. He wanted to be able to be the strong, impossible thing he always was and gain the strength to fight anything that fought him. He was no match for the small fraction of Illyria, though.

Blue returned to his eyes. The knife was still in Connor's hand and Wes was still sitting there, staring, willing for Connor to be able to fight back.

Illyria had taken control for the moment, though, and pushed Connor down as far as she could so his voice fighting back was just a mere whisper.

Connor got ready to attack Wes again, and this time he wouldn't leave him alive.

"Hey," a voice said behind Connor. "Do you _know _who you're about to attack?"

Connor spun around and found Faith standing in front of him. She stood with her legs apart and her arms crossed over her chest. She had a stern look on her face, especially because Wes was tied up with blood dripping down one of his arms. When Connor turned around, though, she wasn't expecting to see Angel's son in front of her, getting ready to attack Wes. She didn't let it go that she was startled by his blue eyes.

"Faith," Connor said excitedly. "I remember you. Connor wasn't very fond of you. The only thing he liked was your fighting skills. Damn, amazing fighting skills. Plus he thought you were hot."

"Connor? Are you speaking about yourself in the third-person now?" Faith remarked snidely.

"Oh, my bad, I guess you haven't been caught up. I'm not Connor. Well, I am, but I'm not. You can call me Connor if you want, but I'm really Illyria. Or part of Illyria. Wow, this sure is a complicated thing to explain, isn't it?"

"Look, I don't care. You hurt Wes; I kick your ass, that's how things go down around here."

Connor smiled. Finally, someone who'd be a fair fight. "I hurt Wes," he taunted. "What are you waiting for?"

* * *

Angel, Spike, and Harmony walked into Gunn's office where Gunn, Fred, and Lorne were. Everyone had their own worried looks on their face for Wesley. Fred, especially, seemed concerned. She looked on the verge of tears _again,_ which was something Angel didn't like thinking about.

"We got a plan," Gunn said immediately once they walked in. On his desk was an assortment of weapons. He grabbed a sword and threw Angel an ax. "You and me are paired up. We'll go around the sewers for a little while and stick to the shadows until night falls. We'll be goin' around places you think Connor would remember, just in case."

Angel agreed. The ax was heavy in his hands, knowing he would never use it on Connor. "What about everyone else?"

"Harmony and I will go around where people are still alive, if she's willing," Fred spoke. "Just to make sure Connor wouldn't go around hurting anyone else."

"I'll go," Harm said. "Anything to get out of here." She glanced at Spike.

"We think Spike and Lorne should stay here just in case, also. And if he doesn't come back by nightfall, then Spike can go out and do anything he wants," Fred said. "If you think it's okay to do this, Angel."

Angel nodded. "I think it's all we have. Gunn, we better get going."

They walked off and were soon followed by Fred and Harmony, who walked out the front door and went in an opposite direction as Angel and Gunn would go, had they left through the front door. Spike stood with Lorne in the lobby. Neither really had anything to say. Spike was fine with waiting, for now, but when night did come, he would surely be out there ready to search for Connor alongside everyone else.

* * *

Faith whipped a stake out of her back pocket and lunged. She punched Connor with her free hand and he was sent flying into the wall next to Wesley. The wall cracked and broke a bit, but Connor stood right up. All the time, a smile never left his face.

With his knife in hand, he ran and attempted to attack Faith. She dodged and managed to turn and kick Connor in the back. By the time he was turning around she was already next to him and punching him in the face, sending him spinning. Her Slayer strength was coming in handy. She wasn't planning on using the stake, but it was good to have just in case.

She ran forward to punch him again, but this time he ducked and came back with a powerful punch of his own. It only hit her on her side, though, so she was able to stay on her feet and when he came towards her yet again she jumped out of the way.

By now, Connor wasn't having fun, he was getting angry. He needed to win this fight. So he made an unexpected move and tackled Faith to the ground. Her stake went flying away. He sat on top of her, pinning her down, and punched her with the hand without the knife. He did it repeatedly until her face was bloody. Then, he brought the knife down against her throat, like he had done to Wes.

"Slayers aren't as strong as I thought they'd be," Connor said.

"You haven't seen me fight my best, yet."

With her left hand, she grabbed onto a book that had been left behind on the floor and, as fast as she could, brought it up and hit Connor in the head with it. He fell to the ground, dropping the knife, and Faith reversed their positions by pinning him down.

* * *

They were nearing the Hyperion Hotel underground. While they walked, they looked around just in case Connor had brought Wes down in the sewers.

"So you think he might've gone to the Hyperion?" Gunn questioned. "Wasn't he never there, though?"

"I just want to be safe," Angel told him. "I just want to make sure."

"Your call, Boss."

* * *

Spike and Lorne still stood in the lobby when the door opened, and they both turned to look at who it was. For some reason, just the sound of the door opening surprised them, seeing as the door hadn't been doing much opening and closing lately.

Lorne didn't recognize who came through the door, sweating and looking like he was exhausted.

Spike rolled his eyes. "Oh, bloody hell," he muttered under his breath. "What are you doing here?"

Drogyn ran up to Spike and Lorne. "I am here to warn Angel. Where is he? There's an emergency with-"

"A boy getting partly infected by Illyria? Yeah, you're a bit late on this one."

"Sure, sure, but I'm here, and I have something to tell you. I know information about what happened to the boy. I have information about what we can do to help him."

* * *

Faith punched Connor again and again, like he had done to her. "You want to hurt Wes? Do you even know the group of people you're messing with?"

Connor spat blood into Faith's face. She wiped it away with a snarl. When she looked back at Connor, she was surprised, though.

He was thinking about it for a while. In his head Connor was trying to break through to let Faith know that he was here and that the thing attacking her was not Connor. Now, he figured this would be the perfect opportunity.

As Faith looked back at Connor she saw his eyes turn brown as the Illyria allowed Connor to break through for just a few seconds to distract Faith. Faith was surprised, much more surprised than she should have been, and when Illyria took back control in the next few seconds, she used Connor's body to push Faith's off of his. She flew into a wall on the ground and groaned.

He wasted no time in grabbing the knife off of the floor and running towards Faith. She was sitting up when Connor neared and easily thrust the knife into her stomach, similar to how Buffy had at one time. Keeping the knife inside her, he backed away a few steps. For some reason, he was feeling quite tired.

Faith stayed there, on the ground, unable to move as the blood pumped out of her body.

Wes was on the other side of the room screaming at Connor, screaming, "No, no Faith, no!"

Connor shook his head. He had to get out of there. It shouldn't be too long before Angel or the others figured it out. Connor turned and ran out of the office, and then out of the Hyperion Hotel.

* * *

Minutes later, Angel and Gunn came up from the sewers and made their way into the Hyperion Hotel. This brought a sense of familiarity to both of them. How long had it been since they were back here? It was nice to walk through the lobby and remember all those times with everyone. Three years they spent in the Hyperion Hotel. It brought a lot of emotions back.

It didn't take them long to see that a light in the office was on. They both hurried over there, just to see if Connor and Wes were there.

The first thing they saw was Wes on the floor with his hands tied above his head. Gunn ran towards him, but Angel noticed another pair of legs on the floor near the door. He turned and saw the pale face of Faith.

"Faith!" Angel yelled and dropped his ax. He kneeled down next to her and checked out her wound. The knife was still inside of her and she was shaking and sweating terribly. She wasn't dead yet, but she would be soon. Tears formed in Angel's eyes.

After Gunn untied Wes, he ran over to Faith and Angel. Wes stayed on the other side of the room, not quite ready to move yet.

"Angel," Gunn spoke hurriedly. "We have to do something, save her. We need to bring her to a hospital."

"There are no more hospitals," Angel said. "How can we save her?"

Gunn had his own tears forming. "We can't just let her die, Angel! She's a good person."

"I…I don't know what to do."

"You can save her, Angel. I mean, I know it ain't a good solution, but-"

"Gunn, no. You don't understand what it'd do to her, what it'd do to everyone. I can't save her, Gunn. I don't know what to do."

Gunn and Angel didn't know what else to say, what else to do.

Wes also came over and sat by Angel and Gunn in silence. He wanted to save Faith. There had to be a way, there had to be a way! She had come so far and now here she was, lying here, dying thanks to Connor/Illyria. No. No, she wouldn't die! She couldn't! But what could he do?

Angel heard her heart slowing…and slowing…and slowing…and slowing.

It stopped. Solemnly, he reached over and pulled the knife out of her gut. He put his head down and let many tears fall as he mourned the death of a great woman and friend. A great Slayer. She made some mistakes along the way, but who didn't? She came back, got redemption, and she didn't-

Coming from nowhere, there was a sharp intake of breath. Angel, Gunn, and Wes's heads snapped up and saw as Faith's eyes opened and she breathed in heavily. Angel looked down to see that the blood, all of her blood, was disappearing and the hole in her stomach was also going away. They were each mesmerized by what was going on, not understanding what was happening or what was doing this to her.

She looked around slowly, as if she was confused. Then, what happened before rushed back to her and she didn't know what to think. How…? Why…? What?

Her eyes widened. "Angel, you didn't-"

"No," Angel marveled at the impossible sight of Faith sitting here with them, alive. It was impossible and miraculous and against every law of nature. Nobody came to life just because. "I didn't do anything."

"Then how am I…alive?" Faith put her hands on her stomach, searching for the hole that should be there from the knife but was now gone.

"I don't know," Angel admitted.

She looked around the room. "So where's Connor?"

To be continued…


	13. Chapter 13

Fred and Harmony were walking around. To both of them it felt like they were alone, in the part of the world that had died because everybody was inside, not yet willing to come back outside. Fred couldn't blame them. She wanted to be inside right now. She also wanted to be out here, searching for Wes, because she loved him and if anything happened to him…she couldn't go there. Wes would be okay. She couldn't imagine living a life where Wes was harmed, just like he admitted he couldn't live without her. He told her that if she had been taken over by Illyria, then he wouldn't know what to do. Fred understood. He loved her, and she loved him.

The problem now was Connor. With him now being affected by Illyria, it added extra stress onto Fred. She was really still trying to cope with what Angel did to her because it was a lot to take in. Day by day she was feeling better, sure, but it wasn't like she was 100% yet. She doubted she'd ever be 100% better. She was trying, though.

Now Wes was taken, and on top of all her other worries she needed to worry about him. No, she didn't need to worry about him; she had to because worrying about him was inevitable.

He made a trade. He told Connor to take him and let her go. Why would he ever do that? Who in their right mind would do that? Fred felt guilty; as if it was her fault he was taken. It was her idea to get close to Connor anyway, so it was her fault. They could all be safe right now had she not gone to take Connor's blood. She wouldn't be out here with Harmony, who was walking alongside Fred talking about something or other, but Fred wasn't really paying attention. She wasn't being rude on purpose; it was just that she had a lot on her mind. She decided maybe she should try and listen.

"…why does he have to be such a jerk, you know? I am nothing but willing and thankful and appreciative to him, and all he does is throw me away. And I don't even like him that much. What's to like? Sure, he has just the cutest blond hair and oh my God, that body-"

"Harmony, do we have to talk about Spike?" Fred asked.

Harmony looked offended. "We're having girl talk. We haven't had any since that one night at the bar place and we're supposed to be friends. This is what friends do, they vent to one another."

"Harm, it's nothing personal, I just have a lot on my mind with Wes and all."

"Ohhh, that's right. How is the relationship between you and Wesley anyway? Every time I walk near you guys it's like you guys are so wrapped in each other's heads that you don't even notice me."

"We're…we're great, I think. I mean, we love each other and everything, so that's good. I just hope everything works out okay."

"We'll save him, Fred. Or Angel and Gunn will save him. Someone will save him. What do you think the deal is with that Connor guy?"

Fred shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Like, it's weird. I think that-"

"Harm, look," Fred stopped her. She held her harm out and stopped Harmony from walking any further. Fred pointed ahead straight at what looked like a person walking towards them.

"What is she doing? I thought everyone was staying inside."

"I thought so too," Fred told her. They weren't sure what to do about the stranger walking their way, so they decided to walk towards them. The stranger had long blond hair and, from this distance, clearly wasn't Connor/Illyria, so they figured they'd be safe to talk to the person.

As they neared the person, they could clearly see she was a distress. Her hair was messy and tangled and she was crying. She looked weak so Fred ran up to her and tried to help her stand up.

"What are you doing out here?" Fred asked her. "Everyone's supposed to stay inside."

"I…I need to check on them," the woman gasped, tears still falling. "My kids…please, I need to go."

"I'm Fred," Fred spoke, trying to calm her down. "What's your name?"

"I…my name is Anne. I need to go to the shelter. Please, Fred, will you take me?"

Fred knew who Anne was just by hearing about her from the others, although never officially meeting her. She also knew about the shelter and about the teens, and she knew there was absolutely no way they survived. That added an extra pang of guilt to her system, but she tried to stay strong.

"You should go back inside, Anne," Fred advised. "It's not safe out here."

"Please, Fred. I need to see." She tried to wipe her tears away.

Fred sighed. "I can't. Listen, I'll take you to Wolfram & Hart and you can talk to the others. I'm friends with Angel and Gunn and Wes."

Anne agreed, and Harmony and Fred escorted her to the Wolfram & Hart building.

* * *

Angel was kneeling by Faith, asking her questions about if she was okay and how she felt. He was also thanking her for coming in here and rescuing Wes from Connor after Wes already thanked her.

Gunn and Wes were across the room, looking back and forth and talking. They were both concerned and confused and thankful.

"Did that psycho Connor hurt you?" Gunn asked Wes.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Faith."

"Well, she looks fine." Wesley frowned at Gunn. "I mean she looks good, she looks healthy and without the being dead thing. I didn't mean fine like _fine. _Not that she's not fine, because she is. What am I even sayin' right now?"

Wes chuckled. "It's okay. Gunn, I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"Angel. He's hiding something from us about Connor."

"Gee, you think?" Gunn replied with plenty of sarcasm.

"I think it's much more serious than any of us thought before. The Illyria inside Connor brings out his memories and talks about events like he was there, like he knew exactly what he was talking about. How would that be possible if we never met him?"

"So then what do we do?"

"We can't talk to Angel about this. He's clearly made up his mind about not telling us. We need to do our own research."

"Where would we even start?" Gunn was a little confused. If they just full-on confronted Angel, he would tell them the truth, right? Why did they have to go behind his back and research?

"I think Connor, the original Connor, was some sort of super being."

"Whoa," Gunn took it in with shock. "Why would you think that?"

"He's only partly infected by Illyria, Gunn. That means he wouldn't have Illyria's strength and fighting skills, or at least not all of them. And yet he was strong enough to kill a Slayer."

He thought about it and realized Wes was probably right. He'd seen Faith fight, and there was no way something would bring Faith down without a good fight.

"So what do you think happened to Faith?" Gunn asked. "Why is she alive?"

"I have absolutely no idea. She just came back without anything happening to her. That's something else I'll definitely have to research about."

While they kept talking, Angel was across the room speaking with Faith. With his super-hearing, if he was paying attention he could have heard the conversation Wes and Gunn were having about Connor. Since all his attention was on Faith, though, he wasn't listening to Wes and Gunn.

"Faith, why are you even here?" Angel asked with worry in his voice.

"Don't worry, I'll be leaving soon. I was just sent to figure out the story, why so many people died."

"Well, I'm thankful you came. Wes could've been the one to…I mean…he could've…well…" Angel trailed off.

"Just say it, Angel," Faith stated. "I died. If I didn't come here, Wes maybe could've been the one to die. Would he have come back to life?"

"I have no idea."

"Angel, something's not right," Faith spoke. She had a look in her eyes, one Angel only saw a few times before. She looked worried. "Ever since I came back or whatever, I'm not feeling like myself. Like, I know I'm me, but it's like I feel the movements of someone else. And in my head I see him."

"Who?"

"Who do you think? Your crazy son. It's like I see him walking some street or something. Or he's running and going crazy. He's screaming and stuff but I don't know what's going on. Almost like he's trying to fight something, but not something physical." She thought for a moment. "He's fighting something emotional, in his head. Angel, what's going on?"

"I have a lot to explain to you. For now, I'm worried about you seeing him in your head, though. That can't be good. Faith, I need you to promise me something."

"What now?" Faith commented but was joking a little bit.

"You can't mention Connor around any of them. I mean Gunn, Wes, Fred, or Lorne. They don't remember him."

She shook her head. "What did you do?"

Wes and Gunn walked over and Angel didn't answer Faith's question, not yet. He'd have to later, though. They both were looking at Faith with worry. Everyone hoped she was okay and wished that they knew what was going on.

"We should get goin' back," Gunn suggested. "If Fred's back she's gotta be worried sick about Wes. Plus, the others might be interested about what went on here."

Angel agreed. They needed to get back and Wolfram & Hart before anything even more drastic went on.

* * *

Night arrived when Fred, Harmony, and Anne made their way into Wolfram & Hart. They found Lorne still in the lobby, and Spike nowhere to be seen. Since it was night, Fred figured he left to go looking for Connor/Illyria. Harmony was relieved that Spike was gone, so she wouldn't have to see him.

"Oh my God," Lorne said, rushing up to them. "Who is this?"

"Lorne, this is Anne," Fred said and glanced at Anne. She expected her to be at least a little freaked out about Lorne and his appearance, but she barely took a second look at Lorne, as if seeing a Pylean demon was an everyday occurrence. "We found her while we were walking around."

"Thank you for bringing me here," Anne told Fred. "I really do need to go to the shelter, though. I have people I need to check on."

The pure worry and hope and despair in Anne's eyes saddened Fred.

"Look, Anne, you shouldn't go back outside. There's kind of an emergency going on." Fred was trying to talk her out of going to the shelter.

"I know, but I just, I need to check. My…my life's work." Anne sobbed and put her hands over her face to cover her eyes so they wouldn't see the tears. She tried to compose herself and keep talking. "I don't care if they're not okay, I need to see. I need to know."

Fred shook her head, but knew there would probably be no talking Anne out of this. If she wanted to check on her shelter, she had every right to, and who was Fred to stop her? Still, she couldn't just send her out alone with Connor/Illyria out there who could kill anyone. She supposed she could escort her, but she didn't really know where the shelter was and she wouldn't be much protection against Connor/Illyria. Fred also had one more reason for not wanting to go, and she felt selfish thinking it. She wanted to wait here until Wes came back. Other than her, Harm or Lorne could bring Anne, but Harmony probably wouldn't want to and Lorne wasn't much protection. If someone was to bring Anne, it'd have to be someone willing and strong.

"Where's Spike?" Fred asked Lorne.

At the mention of his name Harmony snorted and walked away.

"He's upstairs. Fredikins, we have a visitor."

"Who is it?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but trust me; he seems like the captain of worry and stress. He said he has info on Connor though." He looked at Anne. "Anne, honey, come on, let's go upstairs. Do you want something to eat or something to drink?"

She nodded. "That-that would be nice. Is Gunn here?"

"No," Lorne answered, "but he should be back shortly."

Fred's heart sank. They weren't back yet. Was that good or bad? She would just have to wait and see.

* * *

"So, long story short, her hair was less with the red and more with the black. She had all these totally new evil mojo powers that put us all in danger, really." Buffy and Oz were "catching up" although from Oz's perspective, it was more just Buffy talking about the past and him listening, trying to keep up. Oz was glad to listen to the stories, but it freaked him out when she talked about Willow when she went dark and tried to destroy the world. "Lucky enough," Buffy continued, "Xander was genius enough to come up with a way to stop Will from destroying the world."

Oz frowned. "Xander and genius in the same sentence?"

"Yeah, I shocked myself there," Buffy joked. Buffy then went on to tell him all about her battle with the First and how Sunnydale came to be destroyed and how all the potentials became Slayers. "And then we came here. That's where our story ends for now."

"Hm," Oz took it all in. "So then what's going on with the world now?"

"W-well, we're, uh, we're working on finding that out right now, actually."

"How?"

"Look, Oz, I can't answer all these questions right now. You'll just have to wait until Faith comes back."

He wasn't sure what she meant about Faith, but he decided to just stay quiet. He came here wondering what was going on with the world, and now he was figuring it out, although he still didn't know what happened. He'd learn soon, though, whenever Faith came back from wherever she was.

"And Willow and Kennedy?" Oz asked.

"I don't think they're too serious," Buffy admitted. "I mean, they care for each other, sure, but I don't know how far it goes."

Oz nodded. He stood up and looked around, back at the hallway. "I'm gonna go look for her," he said. Buffy told him where her room was and he walked away.

When he neared the room, he took a deep breath. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about this, about being here. He still cared for Willow and wanted, if nothing else, to be friends with her. They used to have a relationship, a friendship, so they could go back to that, couldn't they? At least for a while, while Oz was here. He could tell Kennedy might have issues with that, though.

He knocked on their door.

Willow opened it. "Oh, Oz, hi. Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to talk to you. Buffy told me pretty much all the events of the last few years."

"Yeah, we've been through a lot. It hasn't been all bad, though."

He didn't know how to respond. They stood there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"It-it's really good to see you," Willow told him finally. "I'm glad you're okay. I've been wondering about all the people I knew who could've lived or died and I just, I'm happy you're alive. It scares me to think about all those people who died."

"Yeah, it's pretty freaky."

Willow gave a small smile.

Oz had a good feeling inside. He missed this. Not just Willow, he missed Buffy and he actually kind of wished Xander was here as well. He missed the old Scooby Gang.

* * *

Angel, Gunn, Wes, and Faith walked in to Wolfram & Hart. Faith was walking fine, moving fine as if she hadn't just been killed. It was simply amazing. Angel was constantly wondering what happened to her and how she was here right now.

Fred was the only one still remaining in the lobby, waiting for Angel, Gunn, and hopefully Wes. It was welcome surprise when she saw Faith come in first. She wondered what the Slayer was doing here and how she got in L.A. in the first place. She was also wondering why-

All her thoughts dropped when Wes walked in behind Faith and Fred thought to herself, _Thank God. _She didn't wait for him to see her, instead she ran up to him as quickly as she could and threw her arms around him. He hugged her back and squeezed her tightly. Fred was surprised when she started to feel her own tears running down her cheeks. Wesley was okay, he was alive, and Fred wouldn't have to be alone and worry and wonder and she could stay here as long as she needed to with him.

"You fool," Fred said after pulling slightly away but keeping her arms around Wes's neck. "What are you doing, taking my place? You shouldn't have done that."

"I had to. You needed to be safe."

Fred kissed Wes almost shockingly. She stayed kissing him and they remained kissing for a long amount of time. When they pulled apart, she hugged him again.

"I love you," she said. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. He didn't do anything to me. Not more than a little scratch, anyway. I love you too. I'm happy I'm back."

Angel, Gunn, and Faith were off to the side.

"When did that happen?" Faith asked, pointing at the two.

"Not too long ago," Angel told her. "We should leave them alone. I think we need to talk about everything that went on today, Faith."

"Sure, why not," she shrugged. "I did kind of die today, right? I guess we have something to talk about."

They rode the elevator back up onto their floor and Gunn went off to search for Spike or Lorne to tell them Wes was okay. Angel and Faith went the other way, to his office. They happened to find Spike sitting at Angel's desk. When they walked in, he stood up immediately and walked over to them.

"Listen, Angel, we've got to go to Lorne's office. You won't believe who showed up." He glanced at Faith. "Oh. You're here. When the hell did that happen?"

"Nice to see you too," Faith sarcastically remarked. "You know, I heard you were alive. What's wrong? Too afraid of Buffy to call and tell her? Why are guys always such jerky wimps?" Angel turned to her. "Except for you, of course," she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Spike looked back at Angel. "Drogyn's here. I left him with Lorne to come wait for you."

Angel frowned. "What? He's here? Why?"

"He says he's got information on Connor. We need to go talk to him, and now."

Angel turned to Faith. If Drogyn was here and had information on Connor, he definitely needed to go talk to him and figure out if there was a way to save his son. At the same time, Faith was here and impossibly coming back to life, plus she kind of saw a vision of Connor, or something. He needed to talk to her and tell her not to mention Connor in front of anyone, or at least not anything about Connor's past.

"Spike, go wait with him for me. I need to talk with Faith for just a few minutes."

"Angel, this is serious. He could-"

"I know. Just go. I need to talk to Faith."

Spike looked a little angry, but he shook his head and walked off anyway. Being alone, Angel and Faith sat down at his desk.

"So what are you doing here again?" Angel questioned her, knowing there was no time to waste.

"Well, the short answer is that Buffy and Willow sent me here to find out if you were really evil. I'm supposed to hear what went on to make part of the world die."

"Yeah," Angel said. "I guess I need to explain that."

So, Angel began explaining, but started by telling Faith about Connor. He told her about the memory spell and how they all came to work at Wolfram & Hart. Then he told her about Fred and Illyria and about what he had to do to save her.

"Well," Faith said at the end of everything he told her. "Sounds like you've had quite a lot going on around here. They really don't remember Connor?"

"No, they don't. At this point, with him being partially taken over by Illyria, I might have to lift the memory spell, though. It'd probably make things easier to explain."

"Sure, but how would everyone react? What if it hurts them too much to know the real truth?" Faith seemed truly, generally concerned.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted. Then, he turned the conversation to Faith. "So are you okay? You don't feel any different?"

"Not really. The only weird thing is what I told you about before, about me seeing Connor and kind of…feeling him, I guess. I guess the thing he was fighting was Illyria. I only saw him the once, though, so maybe it's not that big a deal."

"I'm worried about you. You know what happened isn't normal."

"Whatever, why worry about it? Right now I just-"

Faith stopped in mid-sentence. She started coughing heavily and put a hand on her forehead as if to hold her head up. She closed her eyes tightly and began to shake.

"Faith?" Angel called. He stood up and rushed around the desk. "Faith, are you alright?"

As quickly as it started, whatever was happening stopped and Faith sat straight up. She jumped up and got into a fighting stance and faced the door to Angel's office. "He's coming," she said sternly.

* * *

Wes and Fred also left the lobby and came up, although they went straight to Wes's office. There, he told her what happened and she told him she was glad he was okay. And then they kissed again, because Fred realized how much she wanted to be close to Wesley and wanted to be near him and never wanted to be pulled apart from him. Wes felt the same way.

* * *

"What are you talking about?" Angel yelled. "Faith, what's going on?"

"I don't know what it was, but I saw him, Angel. He's coming up here."

"Who?"

Suddenly the doors to his office opened and Connor hurried in, but not in his new usual wanting-to-fight way. Angel saw why. His eyes, surprisingly, were brown. He won over Illyria, for the moment, and he was rushing to Angel. When he saw Faith, he stopped walking and stood there, staring, his mouth open a little, taking the shock in.

"Faith," Connor, the actually Connor, whispered. She was alive. But wasn't he partly to blame for her death?


	14. Chapter 14

"Connor," Faith said almost excitedly. She wasn't smiling, though. Instead, she looked serious and a bit angry. Then again, who wouldn't be angry while facing the person who killed you earlier that day? "Glad to see you again. Did you come to finish the job?"

"How…how is this possible?" Connor asked, barely being able to speak. He was himself, for now anyway, for as long as he could hold off against the Illyria inside of him. She was fighting and screaming and begging to take control, but Connor somehow found a burst of strength earlier and was able to push her down. He just had to hope he could keep her down for a while longer.

"Oh, pal, I'll _show _you-"

Faith began to walk forward, but Angel stopped her. "Faith, his eyes," he told her in a hushed whisper.

"What about them?" Faith shouted angrily. She didn't want to listen to Angel right now, she wanted to go and fight because her murderer was standing right in front of, and she deserved to fight him again, didn't she? She looked at his eyes, though, and saw what she didn't see before. They weren't blue. They weren't Illyria. This was Connor, the actually Connor. Anger still boiled in her chest, though, and she still felt an urge to run up to him and fight him.

"Connor, how-"

Angel started, but Connor cut him off.

"I don't know how much time I have. I just managed to take control for just a short amount of time and…I had to come here, I had to talk to you. _None _of this is me; you guys need to know that. I never wanted to kill Faith and take Fred and, and…" He put his hands to his head as a reaction to a flash of pain that made its way to his brain.

"We know this isn't you," Angel told him quickly. "You don't need to apologize for anything. We can help you."

"You can't help me!" Connor screamed. "No one can! I'm a danger, a risk. I never should have come here in the first place. I need to get out of here before she comes back."

"Connor!" Angel yelled after his son as he turned and ran out of the office. He contemplated chasing after Connor, but he managed to run away too fast and the next thing he knew Faith was falling to the floor and yelping in pain and grasping her head. He ran to her and kneeled in front of her, worried.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Faith was able to sit up after the tremors of pain that filled her head and the visions of who she saw. She shook her head at what she saw. It was like watching a movie as small images flashed in her head, but they were always of Connor. Before she had a vision of Connor bursting into Angel's office, and that had happened. Just now she had a sort of vision of Connor running out of Wolfram & Hart as fast as he could and his eyes turning that creepy blue. Faith instantly explained to Angel what she saw.

Angel was as surprised as she was.

"Whatever's happening to you isn't normal," he stated. "You need help, or an explanation, or something."

"Yeah, well, we better hurry it up. I think I still got a bunch of hours left, but eventually Willow's gonna do a spell to bring me back to Rome."

"I need to talk to Drogyn. He's the only one who claims to know anything about Connor's condition, or so I've heard. Maybe he'll have some sort of explanation about what's happening to you."

"I don't know, Angel. I hope so." Faith closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I hope so."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Anne said, but stopped to take a sip of water. "You can't tell a single lie?"

"Nope," Drogyn responded. "And that is a question. That's why I don't like them."

Anne was in Lorne's office with Lorne, Drogyn, and Spike. She was being momentarily distracted by this odd fellow by the outlandish name of Drogyn. He explained to her how he could not lie, and she was curious with many questions. Of course, Drogyn disliked it when she asked questions, so she tried to stop after a while. Drogyn was sitting at the table rapidly tapping it with his fingers. Anne knew that meant something serious had to be going on (it didn't really take a genius to figure that out, considering a giant chunk of the world dying) and she was curious as to what he had to say. She considered asking him about it, but then decided not to be so cruel.

"Why is she so fascinated with this bloke?" Spike asked Lorne across the room. "I'm a vampire and you're a bloody Pylean demon, surely we'd have more interesting things to talk with her about."

"Hey, say what you want about my kind, but under no circumstances should I be considered 'bloody'." Spike didn't respond and instead started pacing around the room. "Geez, trying to lighten the mood around here is like talking to a brick wall," he muttered to himself. He couldn't blame them though, really. They were all going through some really major stuff.

The door to Lorne's office opened and in walked…Gunn. Spike was disappointed, expecting Angel, who could finally talk to Drogyn because Drogyn was playing some tough guy act and said he'd talk to no one but Angel. Spike had rolled his eyes and was tempted to ask him why he was here anyway, but then decided against it for reasons even he was unsure of.

"Hey, guys, good news." Gunn walked in talking, but stopped when he saw Anne sitting at the table. "Anne? What are you doing here?"

"Gunn," she said and stood up, turned, and looked at him. "I-I couldn't stay in the apartment. I needed to go, to check on my…you know. I didn't get the chance to. Fred brought me here."

"You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous. There are greater threats here more than anywhere else you could be. I don't want you, or anybody, to get hurt."

"You don't have to worry about me, Gunn. I'll stay out of any danger once I see my shelter."

"Enough of the dramatics," Spike interrupted. "What's the good news?"

"Wes is okay. We also found Faith, and she…damn, I don't know how to explain how she is."

"I must speak with Angel," Drogyn spoke up. "He needs to be here. He must know how urgent this is."

"Trust me, he knows," Spike groaned. "Apparently he's just too good to come here."

Although, just as Spike stopped speaking, the door opened again and Angel walked in followed by Faith. Faith looked like a mess with her hair messed up and in all different directions. Spike wondered what they did in Angel's office to make her look so wound up. Finally he was here, though, and they could talk to Drogyn. Spike was too curious about it to care about much else.

Drogyn stood up as Angel walked in. Immediately his eyes were drawn to Faith. There was something not right about her. He didn't know what, exactly, and he couldn't place it, but there was definitely something bad about her he could not place.

"Drogyn," Angel spoke slowly. Even though he knew he was here, it was still kind of a shock to see him. Shouldn't he be in the Deeper Well, like he usually was? How did he even know about Connor and Illyria in the first place? "What are you doing here?"

"I have information about Connor I must speak to you about." He looked around the room, almost nervously, at all the people inside. "Alone," he added.

"If by alone you mean the three of us, then that's okay," Spike broke in. "I've being waitin' to find out what the hell you're doing here and I'm not just going to leave because you want to talk to Angel alone. What makes him so special anyway?"

"We have been friends for a long time," Drogyn answered. "I trust him, not you."

Spike was getting angry, getting ready to punch Drogyn. Unfortunately, Angel spoke up.

"Spike, take Faith back to my office. She can fill you in on what happened when we went to fight Connor. Lorne, I'm sorry about taking over your office, if you want we can leave."

"Oh, Angel, don't worry about it. Maybe I'll go find Wes and Fred, see how they are."

After some huffing and puffing, Faith led Spike out of the office and Lorne followed behind them. It was then when Angel noticed the other unexpected guest.

"Anne." Angel was generally surprised. He knew she was alive because Gunn told him, but he still wasn't expecting her to show up here, at Wolfram & Hart. "It's good to see you. I'm happy you're okay. With everything that's happened, it's impossible for me not to think about mostly everyone I know who are probably…gone." Angel stopped talking for a few seconds. "I'm sorry. I'm glad you're okay, but why are you here?"

"I just had some stuff I needed to take care of. Fred brought me here."

Angel nodded, and didn't know what else he could say.

"Come on, Anne, let's get outta here," Gunn led her to the door. "They've obviously got some stuff to talk about." Gunn and Anne left.

Drogyn sat back down and Angel sat in a chair next to him. He found himself being extremely frightened at what Drogyn may have to say. What if there was no way to save Connor? Would Drogyn even know if there was a way to save him? What was he doing here?

There were too many questions rushing through his brain, and it seemed liked there wasn't enough time. Plus, he knew Drogyn, and he knew he couldn't begin by asking a whole lot of questions or else he'd get pretty mad. He just had to be calm and patient and wait for the right time for all of the information to come out. Albeit, this was his own son they were going to be talking about, so why in the world should he wait for whenever it may be convenient for Drogyn?

"How do you know about Connor?" Angel questioned, jumping right in.

Before speaking, Drogyn took a deep breath. "As you know, Angel, the Powers That Be are the ones who made me humanly immortal and put me in charge of the Deeper Well. I guess that makes me kind of a worker for them. A servant, if you will. When you and Spike left, the Powers contacted me and told me about Connor and about the piece of Illyria inside of him. Immediately they knew the dangers and what would happen. They told me to come to you and supplied me with countless amounts of information about Connor-slash-Illyria that could possibly happen and what the dangers and affects may be because of him."

"So they told you to warn us about Connor and tell us about the dangerous affects he may have against us," Angel concluded, not asking.

"Yes," Drogyn still responded. "Because the Powers That Be know their champion, they also told me how to help Connor."

Angel got a moment of excitement. It was hard to contain a smile on his face and a cheer. There was a way to help Connor! But if he got his hopes up too high then all the "helpful" things they could do might just turn out to be "hurtful" things for Angel. He couldn't cheer and be happy just yet. There would have to be a catch to what Drogyn was saying, no doubt. There were catches to everything these days.

"What are the ways?" Angel attempted to ask as calmly as he could.

"Well, the first way is that we kill Connor. I know what you're thinking, Illyria can't be killed, and that is partially true. If she had taken full form of someone, she would be nearly impossible to kill, but since she has only taken part control over Connor, we can still end that part of hers existence. You wouldn't be able to do it when she was in control, of course. You'd have to wait for the perfect moment when Connor was in control and then murder him. It sounds cruel, but it would end the threat of Illyria inside Connor."

"We're not killing Connor," Angel said, not even taking a minute to consider it.

"Angel, I know that-"

"I don't care, Drogyn. I will not hurt Connor. He will not die." His mind was certainly made up. "What is the second option?"

"The second is nothing more than a temporary solution. If Connor were somehow able to learn to push Illyria down, then he may be able to be taught how to keep her down for extremely long periods of times, being himself mostly. Although, there is no doubt Illyria would break free sometimes, so he would still be a risk."

The second option didn't sound so great also, Angel thought. It was a lot better than the first option, but Angel could only imagine how terrible it'd be to live with a constant other force trying to push your brain out of the way so it can control your body. He didn't say anything. He had to hope, to wish, that the third option was something useful, something that could be done.

"The third, and final option," Drogyn continued, "is kind of win-lose situation, even I must admit. There _is _a way, and only one way, that the Illyria inside of Connor may be removed. The rest of Illyria is inside her sarcophagus in the Deeper Well. If she were to be released, though, and take full control of another body—like she was going to do to your friend Fred—then every part of her would need to be with her in order to take control of the body. The part inside Connor would fly out of him and join her inside the other body she was going to take control of."

Angel closed his eyes in defeat. That was it? With the third option, if Illyria were to take control of someone than all the people who died would have been for nothing. He couldn't bring her back when he had stopped her by killing millions of people. None of these options to save Connor were good options, and he surely wanted to save Connor. He couldn't live in this world, not if Connor was constantly living in struggle of fighting over his own body from Illyria, which ruled out leaving things how they were now and the second option to save Connor. That left either killing Connor or bringing Illyria back, like either of those were really choices.

What could he do?

That's when it hit him; truly hit him, that he couldn't do anything. Not alone, at least. This wasn't only his son he would be affecting; it would affect all of Angel's friends as well. And they didn't know about Connor. And in order to help him make this decision, to decide what would be best for the world, he needed their help. He'd only get their real, true help if they knew the truth about Connor.

"I'm sorry about the choices," Drogyn said. "I know this must be hard for you."

Angel stood up. He'd made up his mind. The memory spell had to go. "It is," he admitted. "We'll make it work, somehow. We have to."

"Angel, before you leave I must do what I despise and ask you a question. What was up with Faith? There was something odd about her that I can't place."

"She was killed by Connor earlier today," Angel simply opened up. "Then she came back to life, miraculously."

Drogyn's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "Remember when I told you the Powers told me what dangers may come from Connor? Well, you'd better sit back down. This is one of the dangers."

* * *

As Connor was running away with his blue eyes, Illyria couldn't help but ponder how the hell Faith was alive. He'd killed her! Illyria used Connor's body to thrust a knife into her stomach. There was no way she could have survived. So how was she alive?

Plus, when Connor was around her, Illyria felt all weird and tingly, like there was something very different about her. Somehow her coming to life had caused a change of events, and neither Connor nor Illyria was sure how or why. There was definitely something strange about her being alive, though, and he was curious as to why she was alive. There had to be a reason. They would have to find the reason why.

* * *

Wesley and Fred stayed with each other through the night, throughout everything, without leaving the office. At one moment Lorne almost came in the office, but decided against it, thinking that they probably wanted to be alone anyway, and it would be rude of him to interfere.

Wes and Fred kissed, and did more than kissed, and felt closer to one another than they ever had before. Being together emotionally and physically made Fred happy, happier than she'd been all in the past days since she found out what Angel did for her. It was selfish, and she knew it, but being with Wes had combined some of the greatest feelings of her life into one and she was jubilant. She could still feel guilty, think about all the fallen people, and be happy at the same time, right? Or was that wrong? Was she going against what she believed by being happy right now?

"I love you," Wesley told her.

"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that," Fred said.

"I'll never get tired of saying it."

Fred smiled and decided it was okay to be happy, as long as she had Wesley by her side.

* * *

When Angel was seated again, Drogyn wasted no time talking about what he'd learned from the Powers That Be.

"They told me what would happen if Connor and Illyria were to kill someone," he spoke quickly. "It is very dangerous. The person would not die because Illyria isn't fully inside Connor and killing someone will most likely be against his will. That does not mean there is no consequence, though. Faith and all of us are in extreme danger in her condition."

"I don't think so," Angel fought for her. "She's seeing weird visions of Connor, but that's it."

"No. Once Connor or Illyria or whatever realizes the power she has over Faith because of killing her, there will be much more. Illyria will be able to control Faith, literally order her to do whatever she says, whether Faith wants to or not. At the moment, Illyria is just not aware of that power she has over Faith. The closer they are together, the worse it will be and the more Faith will be able to be ordered around like Illyria's puppy."

"And this will happen to everyone Connor kills?"

"Yes."

"Well, we don't have to worry," Angel tried to remain calm. "Faith will be leaving soon, off to Rome. That's pretty far away, so maybe Illyria won't be able to control her from that distance."

"We'll have to hope so."

"Drogyn, thank you. I need to tell the others about what you've told me. But first, I need to do something." _I need to lift the memory spell, _he added silently.

"Sure, go on ahead. I'll be staying for a while until I believe it is safe."

Angel nodded and told Drogyn he'd see him later, and then he left the office and made his way to his own.

* * *

Gunn and Anne, once Angel had arrived to talk to Drogyn, left Wolfram & Hart. Gunn knew what Anne wanted to see, and he also knew that there would be no way to convince her to not go. He understood her reasoning, anyway. She needed to see, even if it was for the worst. She needed a sort of closure that only seeing could fulfill.

So, Gunn brought Anne to the shelter. They carried flashlights since all the lights were off because of Wesley's spell. As they neared the shelter, Anne's walking became slower and her breathing heavier. Gunn was, needless to say, worried about her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm fine. I need to do this."

Gunn admired Anne's strength. If he were her, he didn't know if he'd be able to go check, no matter what. Anne was strong, though.

She pushed the shelter door open and was immediately hit with the smell of the bodies. It might not have been so bad if it was just one body, but considering there were so many, the smell really hit hard. Anne gasped and put her free hand on Gunn's and held it and squeezed. It hurt to see them, the bodies, lying there. Tears were falling down her face, but she just could not turn away. _I need to see, I need to see, _she told herself over and over again.

After a few minutes of standing still, Gunn pulled Anne away, not caring if she was ready to leave yet or not.

"I can't do that," he told her. "I can't stare at those kids you knew. I'm sorry. If you wanna go back, I won't stop you, but I just don't think it's healthy for me."

"I've seen what I wanted to see," Anne told him. "Will you bring me back to Wolfram & Hart?"

Gunn nodded and embraced Anne in a giant hug that it seemed she needed. "Of course, he whispered in her ear. "Of course I'll bring you back."

* * *

"I'm so nervous," Willow said. She, Buffy, Kennedy, Oz, Andrew, and Dawn were in the living room, sitting around or walking around and talking. It was kind of awkward, especially since Dawn saw Kennedy keep giving Oz a few dirty looks, although no one else seemed to notice. "I feel like it should be time to bring her back or something."

Buffy looked at a clock. "She's still got more than twelve hours left, Will. We still have a while."

"I know, I'm just so worried. I can't help it,"

"Aw, baby, it'll be okay." Kennedy walked over to Willow and started giving her a massage. It didn't bother Oz too much, or at least not as much as Kennedy probably would have liked.

"Maybe we could bring her back early," Dawn suggested. "Surely she's found Angel by now."

"We can't do that to her," Andrew argued. "We made a promise to bring her back exactly when we were supposed to."

"Guys, we just have to wait," Buffy shushed them. "When it's time, it'll be time and we'll bring her back. In the meantime, we'll just have to occupy ourselves in other ways."

"Sightseeing, anyone?" Oz said almost as a joke, although it was kind of hard to read on his face that he was joking. Still, a few people chuckled.

Then, Buffy jumped up. "Yes! Oz, you're in Rome, and for who knows how long. We should go out for a little while, keep our mind off things. All of us, we could maybe try and have some fun. What do you guys think?"

"You guys go," Kennedy said. "You deserve a break, Buffy, and someone needs to stay just in case more Slayers become angry and come here or need taking control of." She was a bit weary of staying and having Oz go out with everyone else, with Willow, but she was trying to be as cool as she could about it. Willow was a good, honest person, and she would never do anything behind her back about their relationship. Plus, Willow wasn't straight anymore. Kennedy just felt so protective over Willow.

"I'll stay too," Andrew suggested. "Help Kennedy hold up the fort."

Kennedy rolled her eyes.

"Okay, let's go!" Dawn said cheerfully.

* * *

Angel walked into his office and sent Faith and Spike away, saying he needed to do something before he could talk to them. They both had hints about what he may do and didn't argue. They left his office and went somewhere else.

He started looking for something, an address for one of the demons who could lift the memory spell to see if they were behind Wolfram & Hart, where they'd still be alive, unaffected by Illyria. As he was searching, someone appeared in front of him, causing Angel to jump.

"Guess whose back?" Lilah grinned cheerfully. "So you want to lift the memory spell? Well, I know how you could do that."


	15. Chapter 15

The sight of Lilah gave Angel the same reaction as before: shock. She was dead and in Hell, and she just couldn't seem to stay there. Still, she said she was here to help, so it wasn't like Angel was going to deny help. Right now, he could use any help he could get. He needed to lift the memory spell and it was possible the demons that could do it were dead right now.

"Lilah. Always great to see you," Angel said with a bit of sarcasm.

"Of course it is," Lilah responded. "You don't have to worry, though; I won't be here too long. I was just sent here to help you yet again in your times of dire needs."

"Listen, Lilah, I just need to lift the memory spell. I don't need any other trouble or sarcastic comments or anything. So you can help?"

Lilah smiled. "Yes I can help. I'm the only one who can, really. The others who could do it are dead."

Angel nodded. He had suspected that much. Now it was official. He could still lift the spell, though, which was what he wanted. It was time for his friends to know the truth, the whole truth. It would affect them all greatly, but Angel didn't think he had a choice. In order to decide what must be done with Connor, he needed the help and support of his friends, his family.

What if they were hurt beyond repair? What if they hated Angel for what he did? What if they wouldn't talk to him?

There were too many "what if" questions he couldn't even worry about them all. All he could do was lift the spell and hope everything turns out for the better. If it didn't, then he'd deal with it.

"Can we do it quickly?" Angel asked Lilah.

"Well, it'll take a while, but we can get started right away if you want. After all, you are the boss."

"I don't feel like the boss. I feel like a failure to all my friends and family. If it weren't for me and my decisions Connor wouldn't be in danger right now and neither would anyone else. This is all my fault."

"Yeah, well you can brood about that later. We've got a memory spell to lift."

Angel rolled his eyes. Wasn't he punished enough, did he really have to stay here and work with Lilah to lift a spell? He supposed so. That was unfortunate. Hopefully they'd be able to get the spell done semi-quick, though. He had no idea when Connor would come back and he wanted to talk to everyone before that happened. He had a lot to fill them in on.

* * *

Gunn and Anne came back to Wolfram & Hart. They both felt more comfortable to be here, in a place where the lights were on and other people were, even if there were only a few people.

Anne, for one, was happy to be back. She found what she needed and she succeeding in getting closure. What she did not succeed in was deciding what she was supposed to do now. She worked so hard to give those kids a place they could sleep and feel safe and know they could go there whenever they needed, and now that place and her kids were gone. In her time running the shelter, she had realized that was her true calling, though. She wanted to help teens, like she wished someone had helped her as a teen. Were there orphans out there, in the area of Los Angeles that was still alive? Possibly, but how would she even find them? And surely, if their parents were gone, someone was looking after them for the moment. She sighed. It was official. She was useless.

She couldn't just give up, though. She had to find something, some way to help anybody or anything, no matter what. That was possible, wasn't it? It had to be.

One thing she was thankful for, in this moment, was that she was here with a few familiar faces, and everyone new she met seemed to be pretty friendly. Things would positively be harder if she were going through this alone. It helped that Gunn was here, also, and had been willing to take her to the shelter. It helped to know there was someone she could count on.

"Thank you," Anne told him again as they walked into an elevator. "I don't know how I would've been able to survive without seeing and just making sure."

"You don't need to thank me. It's all completely fine. Honestly, I like gettin' out of this place for a while, so I should be thanking you."

The elevator doors closed and the whole thing started moving upwards.

Anne laughed. "Why? This place isn't all bad for an evil law firm."

"Maybe not to you," Gunn told her, "but for me it gets kind of hard. Especially when I see Wes or Fred or anybody, really. All it does is send some guilt up my body."

"Guilt? Guilt for what?"

Gunn sighed. "I just made some bad choices is all. Almost traded my friend's life for something that doesn't even matter anymore. It was an accident, and they all get that, but that don't make it easier."

"Gunn, what are you talking about?"

"Kind of a long story."

The elevator doors opened. "Well, for some reason I think we've got all the time in the world," Anne said. "You can tell me anything. Just a few minutes ago you saw me at, like, my most vulnerable I've ever been, so feel free to send that back to me with your own vulnerability."

He laughed. "Fine, let's go back to my office. I can tell you why everything that went down happened. You deserve to know."

They walked to his office and Anne got ready to listen to a long, heartbreaking story about why half the world suddenly just seemed to die.

* * *

Buffy, Willow, Dawn, and Oz were out walking around, taking in the beautiful scenery. Buffy was glad to be out of the apartment and she relished in the fact that she wouldn't have to deal with any Slayers or any drama for a little while. When she got back, that would be another story. But for now, she was here with her friends and enjoying it.

They stopped at a semi-fancy restaurant after a little while. Buffy also concluded that it'd be nice for them to have a meal together, just as friends normally did. Sure, they were all far from normal (she was a Slayer, Willow was a witch, Oz was a werewolf, and Dawn was a key made into human form) but that didn't mean they couldn't have a good time together. Plus, Andrew wasn't with them, and mostly everyone but Oz knew that being away from Andrew was something to cherish for a while.

While waiting for their food, Dawn talked to Oz—although it was pretty much a one-sided conversation—and Buffy and Willow talked. They tried to avoid topics such as Faith and Angel and the world and all the other crazy things. If there was one thing Buffy wanted right now, it was a semi-normal time out with her friends. Being the Slayer and training a bunch of other Slayers came with so many duties and often excluded her from spending time with her friends. This was a special occasion, though, with Oz here.

"How do you feel about him being here?" she asked Will. "It doesn't bother you too much, does it?"

"Oh, no, Buffy, it's totally fine. We actually talked earlier and it was fun. We got caught up kind of and we just, I don't know, got used to being around each other again. I'm glad he's here."

"Well, I'm glad. Kennedy's probably not much with the happiness that he'll be here for a while." She frowned. "Did I just say that? I must be more stressed than I figured."

Willow smiled. "Yeah, but I think she'll be fine. She knows I'm not into that…_lifestyle_ anymore so I don't know why she would be so worried. She just gets kind of really protective. It's kind of sweet, though."

"Yeah," Buffy said longingly. "I wish I could have someone like that. The only person protective of me right now is Andrew." She made a barfing motion.

Willow laughed. "Buf, you don't want someone protective over you. You're not the kind of girl that needs that."

"You're right," she admitted. "Still."

Finally their food came and they began to eat. They ate and conversed and laughed and had fun. It almost felt like an almost original Scooby moment except without Giles, Xander, and Cordelia. Plus, Dawn wasn't exactly an original Scooby, but they did remember her as always being around, so that counted.

Oz felt how much he missed Buffy, Willow, and Dawn more than ever and hated how he hadn't spoken to them more often. He was kind of all by himself in Tibet. It would…would it be too much to stay with them, become a member of their gang again? Things were different now, though, so if he were to stay or stick around it seemed like he'd be put into a job of taking care of the rest of the Slayers. Still, maybe it'd be worth it. It was something he was definitely going to think about.

* * *

"Alright, so we've got all the ingredients for the spell to lift the spell and I know the magic words," Lilah concluded. "What do you think, Soul-Boy? This would be your last chance to back out of lifting the spell."

Angel shook his head. "No, we need to lift it. There's no other way."

"What specifically changed your mind?"

"Do you really care?"

"No," Lilah admitted, "but I'm still intrigued. You seemed so sure about the memory spell."

"Well, apparently I didn't think far enough ahead to see the dangers and repercussions of the spell."

"Oh, you're no fun. I've gotta admit, though, I wish I could stay around long enough to see the consequences."

"You have to go back to Hell?"

Lilah shrugged. "It's no big deal, really. It's not like I belong anywhere else."

Angel placed all the spell ingredients on the desk in front of Lilah and backed away. She was, for the most part, the one going to lift the memory spell. Why and how she knew how to do it were mysteries to Angel, but he just went with it. As long as the spell was lifted, he'd be okay. What he needed, what he really needed, was for the spell to be lifted and then to go talk to his friends and tell them what Drogyn told him.

How would they react? Out of everyone, Angel was most worried about Wesley. Sure, Gunn, Lorne, and Fred would have their own reactions and shock, but Wes would be the worst, no doubt. He did things and Angel did things that he made him forget about, but now that Wes would remember things would be different. Would they go back to the way before, with Wes being an outcast, or would they find the strength inside to stay a team?

He was also worried about Wes's and Fred's relationship. It was kind of a strange thing to worry about, but he knew how strong they were and he knew how their relationship mostly pulled Fred from her misery about all the people dying essentially for her. Without that relationship, she might not be as okay as she was now, and how would she react if they were to lose that closeness because of the memory spell?

Was it selfish to be doing this, to lift the memory spell?

Angel rolled his eyes. No matter what he did, his motives were going to be semi-selfish, he had to confront that. Connor's life was at stake, and he already made the decision. Lilah needed to remove the memory spell.

Lilah began chanting. After a while, the ingredients started shaking slowly and then rising and twirling around in the air. A bright white light seemed to envelop Lilah. The memory spell was being lifted.

Suddenly everything fell to the floor and Lilah stood there like normal. She had a deadpanned look on her face. "Well, that's done," she said nonchalantly.

Angel looked around the room, as if expecting them to come running in here any minute. "They remember?"

"Yep." Lilah and Angel didn't say anything for a moment of awkward silence. "I guess that means I'll be going back to Hell. Be thankful, this is probably the last time you'll ever have to see me again. I know I'm glad I won't have to see you."

"Lilah, I need to thank you. You've helped me both times when I wanted the memory spell and needed to get rid of the memory spell. Honestly, I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't showed up," Angel said with a bit of shock in himself. This was Lilah he was talking to; evil, selfish Lilah.

"Whatever," Lilah rolled her eyes, "you're lucky I was always here to save your ass when you needed it."

They stood there for many more seconds, waiting for Lilah to be gone, to disappear.

"Why are you still here?" Angel questioned.

She sighed. "I don't know. I feel like I should be back in Hell by now."

They waited for several more moments. Lilah still did not disappear.

* * *

Wes and Fred were both sleeping when the memories came back to them. For Wes, the sudden onslaught of memories sent shocks through his body and made him get to his feet and jump backwards until he hit a wall. He slid down and sat on the floor, watching the many images fall through his head, false images that didn't make sense but at the same time made so much sense it was unbelievable. The memories he was seeing, they were real, realer than anything he'd ever really seen.

Fred also jumped up, shocked by the sudden memories when she was just lying down asleep seconds before. It hurt when her mind a little bit to see things like Angel trying to suffocate Wesley with a pillow and to see Connor (who was Angel's impossible son, she realized) try to kill Angel and everybody multiple times.

When all the memories were back in place, Fred stood still for an amount of time she wasn't sure of. It was all just such a shock for all these memories to be placed back into her head when they didn't seem to be there before. The fact that Connor was Angel's son and he was possessed by part of Illyria was enough to surprise her fully, and she now truly understood why Angel was so protective over everyone when it came to Connor. He was just worried about his son and his friends, and Fred could understand that, couldn't she? She would be worried to an extreme, too, especially if-

Wesley!

She looked around the room and saw him sitting up against the wall shaking and shivering and breathing heavily. Fred ran over to him and kneeled by him.

"Wesley, are you okay? Okay, stupid question. Wesley, I-"

She tried to reach over to grab his hand but he pulled away. "Don't," he said with a sharp intake of breath. "What…what am I even doing here?"

Fred now remembered Wesley taking Connor and getting his throat slit and being essentially pushed away from the rest of Angel Investigations. She remembered being personally mad at him when he first took Connor, and she remembered taking a long time to forgive him. While it seemed like the wounds may still be fresh because of everything he did to betray all of them, Fred didn't care because what she remembered most, what outplayed the memories greatly, was how great Wes had been in the last few days and how happy she felt with him. She didn't give a damn about the past (although she was wondering why they remembered everything now) because she knew Wes had, in the moment, done what he thought was right and that didn't make him any less of a great person, any less of a person she could love.

If only Wesley could think of it that way.

The sudden return of _all _of the memories was too much, bringing back every horrible thing he ever did. It was just too much in one sitting, too much for him to be able to actually sit here and sort out in his mind. It would be different if he was just remembering Connor, but, unfortunately, he was also remembering what he did and what Angel did to him and how everyone seemed to hate him at one point. It was all too much at once.

"You all hate me," Wes whispered. "Or-or did. I'm not quite sure what to believe."

"Wes, what you need to believe is it doesn't matter what you did. Nobody cares."

"What if they do? I hurt you all Fred, in terrible ways."

"Wesley, I still love you." Fred's eyes were tearing up as she attempted to comfort Wesley.

"I don't deserve your love, though."

* * *

Gunn had to stop in the middle of telling Anne what was going on because of the sudden rush of memories to his head. He saw everything that had to do with Connor and it all hit him deep inside that that was why Angel was so weird about him. Connor was Angel's son. Angel's son! And Wesley, oh God, Wesley did things, didn't he? He took Connor and, yeah, during the time of the Beast and Jasmine they worked with Wes but no one ever really forgave him verbally, did they? He couldn't recall.

At first, Gunn was angry. Wes did terrible things and yet here he was, still part of the team as if everything was fine and normal. That wasn't right. He didn't deserve to be happy with them, any of them, especially Fred. He didn't deserve it.

But if Wes didn't deserve happiness, then he himself didn't deserve it either, did he? He was the one who accidentally arranged for the sarcophagus to come and kill Fred, and they all forgave him quickly enough and what he did was almost just as bad, in his eyes. If he could be forgiven for what he did, there was no reason why Wes shouldn't be either.

Wait a minute, why did these memories come back, anyway? Why were they gone in the first place?

"Gunn, is something wrong?" Anne asked, not understanding the sudden silence.

"I need to go talk to Angel," Gunn told her.

* * *

"Okay, honey, you gotta tell me what the hell is going on," Lorne said as he rushed into Angel's office. When he saw who was standing by Angel, his head began to pound harder than it already was from the surprise of all the memories. "Why is _she _here? Didn't she die?"

"Don't worry," Lilah spoke, "I should be going back to Hell as soon as possible."

"Lorne," Angel started but was stopped.

"Angel, tell me what's going on. Why do I have memories that I didn't have before, and why do I know that these ones are the real ones?"

"I have to wait until everyone's here to explain what happened," he said to Lorne.

It didn't take long for everyone to gather in Angel's office. Gunn came in next, and then Fred and Wesley, although they walked far apart and ended up standing at opposite ends of the room. Wesley kept frowning at things he was thinking about, as if not fully comprehending or being very confused. Any time someone tried to talk to him he just shushed them off. Angel figured the only reason he was able to come here was because Fred somehow got him in here. Eventually Angel got Spike and Faith, so they were in the room too.

Angel didn't know what to do, so he started talking from the beginning, from when he and Lilah first put the memory spell up. He explained his reasoning behind it and why he decided to go through with it. Then, he explained how complicated things were getting with Connor and that he decided to lift the spell so he could tell them the whole truth and how Lilah showed up and was still here.

"You should have warned us or something," Fred nearly accused him when he was done explaining. "Angel, Wesley is hurt. The memories came on too fast for him."

"I did it," Wesley whispered. "This is all my fault."

"Wes, its okay, man," Gunn coaxed. He put a hand on Wes's shoulder only to just be pushed away.

"Don't touch me," Wes growled.

"It looks like he's in shock," Lorne observed.

"Of course he's in shock," Fred reacted. "He just learned he was the reason behind Connor getting sent to a Hell dimension and that his friends either tried to kill him or excluded him. But I don't care. We need to help him somehow. I don't care what he did."

"I don't either," Gunn backed Fred up. "Not anymore. We're past that."

"Me neither," Lorne agreed, rubbing his forehead.

"Look, I'm over it also, but what can I do?" Angel asked. "The best we can do is just wait for him to slowly recover."

"Angel, do you really think that'll work?" Faith spoke up. "I know what it's like to be in shock like that. What if it doesn't wear off?"

"I'm _fine,"_ Wesley said. "I know what I did. I know how you guys felt about me. I slept with her," he shot an evil glance at Lilah.

"None of that matters," Fred tried to say.

"Yes it does!" Wes yelled. "How can none of you see that? I didn't earn forgiveness or anything; I was just forgiven because of fake memories."

"That's not true," Angel told him.

"Isn't it? What suddenly made you forgive me, Angel? What suddenly made you not want to suffocate me anymore?"

"Wes, you're our friend. We love you and care about you."

"It doesn't make sense for you to care. And now Connor, in danger, he wouldn't be in this situation if I never took him."

"Wesley, Connor is why I lifted the memory spell. I need your help, all of your help. Look, now that you all know the truth, we can actually have a conversation about what to do with him. Drogyn told me there are three ways we can…_save_…Connor. They're not all good, but I need your help, especially you, Wes. You all can help me make this decision because I'm lost and I don't know what to do. Wes, if you don't believe we forgive you, then we'll have to talk about that later, because right now Connor is my main concern. Do you understand?"

Wes looked around the room at all the people around him. They cared for him, and they forgave him, and he knew that. But, for some reason, at this point, he couldn't forgive himself, and he knew it'd be easier to deal with that if they didn't forgive him also. But they did. Did that mean he should just move on, get over it? How could he? Even though he was deeply hurt by himself and the memories, he knew that Connor was the priority right now, so he knew he had to try and contain his emotions and revisit them later.

"Okay," he sighed. "What can we do about Connor?" In the back of his mind, though, he couldn't stop thinking about what he did.

"Now that you all remember, you know how important he is to me," Angel told them all. "I don't want to lose him, especially not to Illyria. Drogyn knows ways to save Connor, but they're not all good."

"Oh boy," Lilah said cheerfully. "I'm excited to hear this."

"Why is she still here?" Gunn questioned. Shouldn't she be back in Hell by now?

Ignoring Lilah and Gunn's question, Angel began to tell them all what Drogyn said about Connor.


	16. Chapter 16

**Before lifting the memory spell**

"You will go to him and help him lift the memory spell," the conduit to the Senior Partners told Lilah. "He needs help in this time of need, and you're the only one who can assist him. You are our tool into getting what we want."

"So what, I help him and then get dragged back to Hell?" Lilah asked snidely without caring.

"No," the conduit that was conveniently formed as Angel shook his head. Lilah was in the White Room, although she wasn't sure how she got there. The last thing she remembered was being in Hell, but she didn't mind being away from there for a while. "You will stay with him in incorporeal form until our goal is succeeded. You have a contract with us, and we will still use you for this type of deal. Once your job is done, you will be sent back to Hell."

Lilah sighed melodramatically. It wasn't really necessary, seeing as she was dead and didn't breathe anymore. "What exactly is my job?"

"There may have been a few unexpected turns over the last few days and weeks and longer, but we still have a plan for Angel. That plan must still be set in motion. You do not need to know what your goal with Angel is; you just need to know you being around will push him further to what we want."

"Sure, but you know, it'd be easier if I knew what I was pushing him towards."

"That is not for you to decide, Lilah. You will not tell him you know you won't be going back to Hell for a little while, or we will send you back right away. Do you understand?"

Lilah considered it. She could either stay in Hell or go spend time with Angel and his crew of annoying people. Was there really a difference in the two options? Okay, she supposed Hell was worse. But still, spending time with Angel…

"Okay," she agreed. "I'll do it."

* * *

**After the spell**

Angel got through explaining to them all everything Drogyn had said about Connor. It was a lot to take in for them all, especially with the sudden return of all the memories, but Angel got rid of the memory spell and he wasn't willing to wait much longer to talk about Connor. His son's life was at stake and he needed help, needed advice about what they should do, and he needed to know now. It was only a matter of time before Connor/Illyria figured out what they could do to Faith and if that happened that would be bad for everyone.

The good news was that Gunn and Lorne weren't taking the return of the memories too bad. They seemed a little confused, but other than that they seemed content in the fact that the memories didn't bother them too much and they could focus a little more on the topic at hand.

Although the bad news was that Fred and Wes were more distracted. Wes was too distracted with his memories, and Fred was too distracted with being worried about Wes. It wasn't an ideal situation, but as long as they still had opinions on Connor then Angel could move on, deal with Connor in the right way, and then focus all his attention on his friends.

"We can't release Illyria back into the world," Fred stated directly. Her voice was quiet and a bit shaky. "You got rid of her and she's such a threat. We can't bring her back."

"We can't kill Connor, either," Lorne weighed in. "He's Angel's son!"

"And I'm opposed to just letting him fight Illyria for the rest of his life," Angel said. "Unfortunately, those are our only three options. We have to choose what to do."

"Angel, it's your son," Faith told him. "You can do whatever you want, as far as I'm concerned."

"But what I do concerns not only me. It concerns you also, Faith. You're connected to Illyria now. If Connor or Illyria or whoever was to tap into that power she would find it inside to take over you by mind controlling you and ordering you to do her dirty work."

"Well sure, but I'm not going to be here much longer. It's all up to you guys."

Angel shook his head. He needed her help in this now that she was a part of it. If Illyria were to stick around inside Connor forever, Faith would always be in danger.

"We gotta kill 'em," Spike spoke up and everyone turned to him. "I'm sorry, Angel, I know he's your son, but we can't release Illyria back into the world and we can't have him fighting for control the rest of his bloody life. I don't see any other option."

Angel nodded and didn't say anything. He wasn't angry, he wanted them all to give their true opinions, and that was all Spike was doing. In fact, Angel was glad about Spike being so honest. He needed that right now. Things were hard enough going through all of this alone, and now that his friends knew the truth he wanted their opinions.

"We can't just kill him," Lorne said. "He's done bad things, but he was always welcome as a part of the team. We've been through so much together it's almost insane to think that we should just kill him after all this time, no matter what. If Connor was trained properly I'm sure he'd have enough strength to keep Illyria down."

"No," Gunn disagreed. "I have to agree with Spike on this one. I don't wanna do it, but that ain't no life to be living if he's constantly fighting for control over his own body."

"And he won't get a life at all if we just kill him," Fred argued. "He deserves a shot, a chance, just like we've always given him. Killing him is no answer and won't do anything but make everyone depressed."

Angel tried to take in what everyone said. So far it was even. Lorne and Fred thought killing was wrong and thought the best thing to do would be to train Connor to fight the Illyria inside of him, and Spike and Gunn thought the only good solution was to kill Connor. While Angel didn't want to deal with the fact of possibly having to kill his son, he knew they were right by pointing out he'd have no life at all if he was fighting for control of his own body all of the time. Angel didn't want that for his son. He also didn't want to kill his son. Why were these such difficult choices?

So far, the only truly _"original" _member of Angel Investigations and Wolfram & Hart that hadn't answered was Wesley. Angel wanted to hear what he thought on the subject.

Wes was still finding it a bit hard to focus on everything going on around him, but he got the gist of their conversation. What he'd done, he couldn't get it out of his head that this was his and no one else's fault. If he never took Connor, he would probably be about two years old now and a happy-as-can-be child who wasn't partly possessed by Illyria. Because of him, Angel was going through some major suffering for his son's hurt on top of the death of so many people. Because of him, Fred was also going through some inner turmoil. She claimed he helped her get through hit before, but how could she say that when he was the cause of so much pain the past? She said she loved him, but did he really deserve her love? He loved her, of course he still did, and he'd never stop. She knew everything he did, though, and what if she decided after a while that what he did frightened her?

It was too much. He couldn't bear the thought of her hating him or being afraid of him. Just because she said she wasn't now, what if that changed later on?

"Wesley," Angel spoke slowly. "What do you think about Connor? What's your opinion?"

"I don't have one," Wes said. "I don't need or deserve one anyway. Decide whatever you must. I'll support any of your decisions."

Angel disliked the sound of that. He wanted Wes's opinion and needed to hear it. Unfortunately, he knew that Wes wasn't going to give an answer, just like Faith hadn't. He wasn't going to let Faith stay unbiased, though, because she sure was connected to Illyria and she needed to do what she thought would not only work for Connor, but work for her as well.

He turned to her and asked her what she thought. She didn't look like she wanted to answer, but finally she gave in.

"Angel, like you said, I'm connected to him. As much as I don't wanna see your kid go, what other choice do I have to say?"

He nodded along to her words. What she was saying made sense, and he couldn't argue that it didn't. He didn't even want to argue that it didn't, because in reality, it made perfect sense. That made the votes three against two to kill Connor. Angel realized that even though everyone had their own opinions, he had to do whatever he felt best for his son anyway. If only he could ask Connor, but what were the chances he would break free for a long amount of time again?

"Okay," he said. He didn't know what else to say. He wasn't necessarily going to listen to his friends, but what if they had a point? Maybe Connor did need to die. Angel didn't want it to happen. He never would. But did he have a choice?

"I say you release Illyria," Lilah finally said. She'd been standing off on the sidelines while Angel and his friends had their pathetic discussion.

"I don't recall any of us asking you, Lilah," Angel shot at her.

She chuckled. "True. But I still do have an opinion, and that is that you are all a bunch of idiots. So what people died because you decided to play hero and get rid of Illyria? If you want your son to be alive and live a life, this is the only shot you'll get at it."

"Wow," Faith puzzled. "I didn't think it was possible, but you became even bitchier over time."

Lilah grinned at Faith. "And you stayed the same-"

"Guys, not now," Angel stopped them. "Lilah, you don't get a say in this. We don't even know why you're here."

"Angel, don't be an idiot. You're overlooking one major factor about rereleasing Illyria."

"And what would that be?"

"Once Illyria has been rereleased the piece of her in Connor will, what, just disappear and go back with all the other pieces?"

Angel shrugged. "Presumably."

"And Fred, oh all-important _Fred, _how did Illyria get inside of you in the first place?"

"The-the sarcophagus," Fred said. "I breathed in some dust or something that came out of it and suddenly just infected me."

"But it didn't actually change you until much later."

"Sure," Fred agreed. "I mean, we did tests and found there was nothing wrong, everything was okay, and nothing happened to me. Then some hours later suddenly I was coughing blood and near death."

Lilah snapped her fingers. Everyone looked at her with confused looks. "Do I have to put the pieces of the puzzle together for _all _of you? What about you, Wesley? You're smart, and you don't see it?"

Wes looked up at her. "I'm disgusted by the sight of you," he said. "We being…whatever we were hurt others. Everyone was shocked. If anything, that pushed me further away from them. You all hated me."

Lilah rolled her eyes. "You really need to fix him."

"There's nothing to fix!" Wesley suddenly shouted. "I'm being honest because no one else here will be. You all don't understand! I _betrayed _you!" With a shake of his head, Wes stormed out of the office.

"I'm going after him," Fred stated and hurried off to chase Wes.

"Anyway," Lilah jumped right back into the conversation as if nothing had happened, "those hours that Fred was referring to? The ones where she wasn't affected by Illyria but Illyria was still inside her? That's your golden time. That is the time the Old One has entered you but is still settling inside your body before they begin their full-on attack."

Angel thought about it for a minute. Lilah was right, surprisingly. Illyria could enter someone and then the other part of her would leave Connor and then they could try and stop the full take over before the person was affected. That would work, right? But how would they stop the take over? Angel asked Lilah that question.

"How would I know?" she questioned. "I'm not the master of Old One's. We need your pal Drogyn here for that."

"Spike, go get him," Angel told him.

Spike rolled his eyes, but then he walked away to go retrieve Drogyn.

* * *

Fred chased after Wesley and after about a minute got him to stop. He stopped and turned to her and ran his hands through his hair. He couldn't talk to her, not now, not when everything in his head felt so screwed up and when he wanted to collapse because he wasn't sure what he should be feeling inside of him.

"Wesley," Fred echoed as she got closer to him. As a bit of a shock, she laughed. Wes's confused look was enough to make her stop. "Sorry. It's just that this, what we're doing right now, reminds me of what you did a few days ago. I was running down the halls, tears in my own eyes, trying to escape what was going on around me. You chased after me, though, like I'm chasing after you. And you promised me you'd stay by me no matter what."

He remembered that. Fred had been terribly sad in the moment, and he was willing to do anything to help her or make her feel better. Plus, he wanted to stop her from possibly doing something incredibly stupid.

"I guess now the roles are reversed," Fred continued. "I beg you to stay, to not freak out, to not do something stupid because I love you and I think if you truly understood that you wouldn't be going through what you're going through right now."

He remained silent.

"I know you feel guilty. I've felt guilty before, and recently. And you're the only one that got me through it. Without you, without loving you, I'd still be an emotional wreck right now. I don't want you to feel guilty, but if you leave me now, I don't know what I'd do. Maybe go back to being all emotional again? I'm not sure. It hurts that you don't believe we all forgive you for anything you did in the past."

"It's not that," Wes finally spoke. "It's…it's what if one day you wake up and realize again what I did and what a monster I am?"

"I would never do that. I _love _you, Wesley. Loving someone isn't pushing feelings down that will one day reawaken and destroy us, loving someone is caring for someone so unconditionally that it doesn't matter what they did in the past or what they will do in the future because that can't change your opinion of them."

They stood in silence. How could he respond to that? How did he want to? And, most importantly, was she right?

"That was beautiful," he told her slowly. "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps that means we should go back to Angel's office and help them with Connor."

"Wesley, do you love me?"

"Of course. You know I do."

"Then you have to know that I'm being honest, that what you did doesn't matter to me anymore." Fred took a big step forward and then kissed Wesley on the lips. She wrapped her arms around him just in case he tried to move away and she was glad when she didn't feel him attempting to pull away. When they pulled apart, they were both gasping for breath. "You have to believe me."

Wes gulped. She had her ways of being convincing. Plus, he loved her and she loved him. He knew that. He was lucky for her to actually share that love with him.

"I believe you," he whispered.

"Then let's go back, and let's save Connor."

"I'm sorry for being such an idiot."

"It's okay," Fred said. She pulled away from him and took his hand in hers. "You being an idiot is part of the reason I love you," she joked and managed to get a small smile out of Wesley.

* * *

Spike and Drogyn got back to the office before Wes and Fred, although they followed close behind. Angel didn't waste any time and began telling Drogyn what Lilah had said and about the possibilities of saving someone in that stage before Illyria began truly affecting the "shell's" body.

"I suppose it's possible," Drogyn explained. "You wouldn't be able to kill the body like you could kill Connor at this point, since all of Illyria is much stronger. She would essentially be at her weakest state inside the host, though, since there'd be no signs of her inside yet. She'd most likely be spreading herself through the body's blood and getting a feel for the entire body before actually taking over. Maybe that means that if a spell were to be done that would literally freeze every organ inside the body, which would also freeze the person, Illyria would be stuck. Of course, the person would be stuck also, frozen forever. That might be a small price to pay if you wanted to attempt it. Just because I'm saying this doesn't make it 100 percent true, I hope you know. Nothing like this has ever happened before, so I could be wrong in my guesses."

"Would it be worth the risk?" Angel asked out loud.

"It's kind of ridiculous," Fred opinionated. She still stood be Wes and held his hand to warm and comfort him. "If this were to work, someone would have to choose to be infected by Illyria and be frozen forever. Not a single person would be willing to do that, and we can't force anyone to do it."

"I see nothing wrong with force," Lilah said.

"You wouldn't," Gunn mumbled.

"Hypothetically, if we did have someone, how would we be able to freeze them?" Angel asked.

"A powerful witch would be able to do it, most likely," Drogyn answered.

Immediately, Angel looked at Faith and she looked at him.

"Oh, Angel, come on," Faith said in a complaining voice. "You want me to bring Red here? What if the spell is too powerful for her to want to do? She's always getting defensive about that stuff with her evil side near coming out with her magic doing."

"No," Angel shook his head. "You're right. Fred's right also. No one would want that to happen to them. Besides, it's too risky. We don't even know if it'd work for sure."

"Angel, this is your son," Spike said. "If you want to try something to save him this may be it. We may have to take the risk, no matter what."

Was Spike right? Angel felt like he might be. Angel wanted to save Connor, and this may be a way to do it. It was a risk, no doubt, and if they were wrong then Illyria would rise again and that wouldn't be good. The question was: Was Angel willing to risk releasing an extremely powerful Old One in order to save his son?

* * *

Connor kicked the door in. Instantly there was a scream of a woman. He stormed into the apartment and found her standing in the kitchen, looking at the kicked-in door that was clearly visible. Connor walked over to her, placed his hand around her thin neck, and grasped her hardly.

"Hey, get away from her!" a voice, a man's voice broke in. A man came running into the kitchen and tried to swing at Connor.

Quickly, Connor took the knife he used on Faith before out of his pocket and swung it forward at the man. It came so swiftly that the man didn't even see it until it was inside his chest. The man's eyes opened wide and Connor pulled the knife out and he fell to the ground. Connor turned towards the woman.

Connor/Illyria wanted to find out. There was a strange feeling he got when he was around Faith, and he wanted to figure out what it was, but he couldn't do it at Wolfram & Hart. So, he decided to kill some other people and see if they came back to life and if they did and he would, most likely, get the same feeling he got around Faith.

When the woman was dead also, he laid her next to the man, her husband, no doubt. He stood there above them for a minute. Nothing was happening. Why not? Something had to happen, it had to, it had to! If nothing happened, then-

The man sat straight up and gasped. The wound in his chest disappeared as if it were never there and left behind nothing but a hold in his shirt. Connor was right. He felt something, the weird tingling sensation he got around Faith. That meant something. He would have to figure out what.

The woman came back to life also. Connor/Illyria smiled. Good. Things couldn't be any better.


	17. Chapter 17

It took Connor many hours. He stayed in the apartment with the man and woman (whose names were Jack and Mandy) and attempted to figure out what was with the odd feeling inside his chest. Apparently, he being around affected them as well, because they both felt weird sensations inside them that wouldn't allow them to fight against Connor.

At first, he couldn't figure it out. There was a nagging voice in his head, other than Illyria, and it was telling him to do something, but he didn't know what. Illyria didn't know what to do. This was something there was very little experience for. What did you do with the person you killed who came back to life? There was some kind of power over these people and Faith, that much Connor/Illyria knew, but what kind of power was it, and how could it be accessed?

It was discovered by accident. Jack and Mandy were pissing him off. There were just standing there idiotically, not trying to help him find out what power he had over them.

"Get out!" Connor/Illyria screeched angrily. He didn't mean it, in the moment, but the anger caused him to say things that weren't necessarily correct.

The two idiots began to walk away.

"Not literally, you fools! Come back here."

They did. And Connor/Illyria realized. They were following the orders.

"Mandy, get me some water," Connor/Illyria tested the theory. She walked over to the cupboard, grabbed a glass, and moved over to the refrigerator. "Stop," Connor/Illyria ordered. She did.

The whole time she was following his orders, she was trying to fight it. It was like her body just couldn't fight whatever this mysterious stranger with ludicrously blue eyes told her to do. She seemed to be taken over, or something, because she wasn't in control when he told her to do something. That scared her so much she found it hard to breathe.

"Jack, lie on the ground."

Immediately he dropped and stayed there. A grin formed on Connor's face. This was great. This was amazing. Fantastic!

Faith. He could control her also, then. And she was an extremely powerful Slayer. That would be extraordinarily useful.

Connor/Illyria tested out the new power even more. As it turned out, Illyria could also _think _orders and they'd do them. It took a little longer, but with a little more practice surely she could perfect it so it worked all the time.

* * *

Harmony, after a while, finally joined everyone in Angel's office. She was wondering what they were doing in there and what they were talking about that she couldn't be included in. Angel didn't want to tell her, really, but all she had to do was ask Drogyn and he spit everything out. Harmony grinned at Angel. Even if he didn't want her to know, she'd find out anyway. She considered herself part of the team, anyway, so why weren't they including her in these meetings?

She was a bit surprised to hear so much had been going on without her knowing. Besides, she couldn't wrap her mind around why they wouldn't tell her. She could be a powerful ally, she thought.

The one good side to everything that she was excluded on was that the Slayer was leaving. It was nothing too personal, Harmony just felt too weak around a Slayer, so Faith leaving wouldn't be too bad. Apparently, they still had a little while before she left, but the clock was ticking down and she'd be gone soon because of Willow's teleportation spell that'd bring her back so she could share what she found out about Angel and everyone else.

The rest of the group was talking about something that, again, excluded Harmony and made her angry. Lucky for her, there was one other person in the room they weren't paying attention to and she wasn't paying attention either. Harmony walked over to Lilah and started venting.

"Ridiculous, right? I mean, could they be any ruder? Who do they think they are? I don't know who you are, but I'm part of this team. But do they include me in any meetings? No. Do they tell me what's going on? No. Not until I'm useful to them in one way or another. Especially Spike, who's just a user, so stay away from him. I feel like none of them appreciate who and what I am to them. They'd be lost without me, I'd guarantee. If I never came in here and-"

"Do you ever shut up?" Lilah asked.

"Wow. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Nope. There are no beds in Hell."

"Hey, watch it with the attitude. Don't make me bite you."

"Go ahead and try, vampire. You won't do anything to me."

"How do you know?" Harmony squealed. Didn't this woman know what a powerful, dangerous creature she was? Didn't she know she could drink every last ounce of delicious blood out of her and kill her?

Lilah reached over with her hand and tried to touch Harmony's. Instead of contact, Lilah's hand fell through her arm. She pulled her arm away. Harmony looked at her with shock.

"Incorporeal form, here," Lilah informed her.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Just hanging along for the ride, as we former Wolfram & Hart employees do after death."

"Huh. Well, I'm already dead, so I don't think I'll have that problem."

"Good for you. Now, if you don't mind, the conversation can stop."

Harmony was offended again. This woman was so rude! Oh well, she would just have to find someone else to talk to. Everyone else was talking in the big group, though. No one wanted to talk to her now. She was alone. Nobody here cared for her. Nobody here even cared if she was around or not. Harmony had to face the truth. She was useless.

She stormed out of the office, as if anyone would notice anyway. Nobody would look for her anyway. She helped them for so long, pretty much their whole time at Wolfram & Hart, and they didn't appreciate her work or what she did. Why not? Was she really that unbearable?

It was times like this where she missed being human and going to high school and Cordelia. She always had so many friends and people she could talk to. Here, no one wanted to talk to her and she had no one to talk to.

* * *

Willow was preparing for the teleportation spell to bring Faith back to Rome. All she had to do was have one of Faith's possessions and basically reverse the original teleportation spell so Faith came back instead of went anywhere else. It would be easy, or hopefully easy enough. It wasn't a particularly difficult spell, so Willow was content doing it for the cause. She was in the living room while the others were gathered elsewhere.

Buffy and Oz were in the kitchen. Buffy was surprised to be approached by Oz and for him to actually tell her he had something he wanted to talk to her about. She wasn't sure about it; the whole thing just didn't seem too Oz-ish. She felt like something was going on, and she wasn't sure of what.

"I've been thinking," Oz started, but paused. Buffy stood there awkwardly and waited for him to continue. "I don't want to go back."

"Excuse me?" she wasn't sure she understood.

"I want to help. Here. With you guys. With all of the Slayers. I want to stay and help in any way that I can."

"Oz, that's sweet, really. We have everything covered, though."

"Oh," Oz broke away from their eye contact. "Yeah, no, I understand."

Buffy felt guilty. That wasn't right. He wanted to stay, wanted to help, and she shouldn't deny him that. How many people would be willing to help with hundreds of overly-powerful girls who killed vampires?

"You know, actually, we can never use too much help," Buffy corrected herself. "And Oz, it'd be great to have you around again. If you want to stay, you're completely welcome."

"Thanks. I still want to make sure it'd be okay with Willow…and Kennedy."

"Well, I'm sure it'll all work out."

Oz agreed, and then he and Buffy separated. She went to go find Dawn, and Oz entered the living room, where Will was still preparing for the spell. She was looking back and forth from the book and the ingredients, double checking that she had everything she needed to have.

In that moment, Oz decided for sure that he wanted to stay. It didn't matter if Willow wanted to be with him or not or whatever. Actually, he was even unsure that he wanted to be with Willow anymore. Did he still love her and care for her? Yeah, but that didn't matter right now, or anytime in the near future that he could see. Right now, he just wanted to stay here, with everybody, with his old friends.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," Willow spoke, breaking into Oz's thoughts. "Do you need something?"

"No," he shook his head. "Well, what if I stayed? I mean if I didn't go back to Tibet?"

"Oh, Oz, that'd be great! It'd be like part of having the original Scooby gang back. Although, fair warning, Slayer work may not be as fun as it sounds."

He gave a small smiled. "Yeah, powerful girls who could get angry and kill easily doesn't sound like too much fun. I still think I'd like to help, though. I'll talk to Kennedy about it if you'd like."

Willow shook her head. "Oz, you don't have to talk to Kennedy about anything. It's your choice. If you want to stay, please feel free to stay."

"I do. I just figured we'd be able to…clear the air. Make friends, maybe."

"Are we ready?" Buffy asked, walking in from the kitchen. "It's almost time, right?"

"Yeah, almost," Willow said and started preparing to do the spell.

* * *

Connor/Illyria was in front of Wolfram & Hart with Jack and Mandy. Mandy held a gun that had been in the apartment while Jack held an ax. Connor/Illyria had a plan for them to go inside Wolfram & Hart and attack the place. He didn't really care what happened to them, seeing as they were just weapons he was utilizing at the moment, but he knew he wasn't going to go inside; he'd control them from out here in order to avoid the risk of getting captured or attacked or anything. He learned that if he concentrated hard enough and closed his eyes, he could just barely see through Jack or Mandy's own eyes.

While he was ordering them around, he also wanted to attempt to control Faith. She was up there, and she had died, so Connor/Illyria had to be able to control her.

"Go inside," Connor/Illyria ordered. He began giving them full instructions up to Angel's office. When they left, he closed his eyes and started to concentrate on whatever it'd take to get into Faith's head.

* * *

"So this is it?" Angel asked Faith.

"Nah," Faith said casually. "Maybe I'll come back. Red could do another spell and I could help some more. That wouldn't be too bad, would it?"

"Well, whatever you want," Angel told her. "Are you going to tell everyone this whole crazy story?"

"Do you want me to?"

Angel didn't know how to respond. Buffy and them all deserved to know the truth about what was really going on, but it was so complicated and if Faith told them maybe they'd then think that they needed to come down to help, and that was a bit unnecessary. But Faith was, in fact, sent here to find out what was going on, so why shouldn't she report everything back to Buffy and them?

Over near Angel and Faith were Spike, Gunn, and Lorne. They weren't really talking, instead just looking around at the room around them and thinking. What could they say? Nobody really knew what Angel was going to really do, if he was going to kill Connor or try to teach Connor to fight Illyria, or do the insane suggestion about releasing Illyria into someone else so she would get out of Connor and then trying to stop her before she fully rose.

Drogyn was off sitting at the table, alone.

Wes and Fred were talking together. Wes appreciated her staying with him and trusting him. Fred was simply happy that he wanted to be around her again and that he was recovering from the return of memories. She believed that, somehow, the return of all these memories would make their relationship even stronger than before.

Lilah was across the office, somewhat watching Wes and Fred be oh-so happy and lovely together. It was sickening not only in the cheesy way, but in a way that actually made Lilah sadder than before. It was hard for her to explain, but it just felt like her past with Wes was now gone, forgotten forever because of Fred. She didn't know why, but that hurt.

Harmony, after leaving earlier, came back into the office deciding that being here and slightly ignored was better than running off alone. At one point Spike tried to talk to her, but she ushered him away. She didn't want to talk to him because she was still angry. He used her and then threw her away! How could she be so mad at him and still care for him so much? _Ugh, _she thought to herself, _why do I have all these human feelings for him? I shouldn't even care that much. _But she did care, and she couldn't deny it.

The calmness was loudly disrupted by a shocking _BANG _and then the explosion of glass causing everyone to scream and duck. The window broke into a million pieces and as all the glass fell to the floor a woman holding a gun and a man an ax appeared. Angel and Gunn reacted the quickest and jumped forward to fight off the people before they did anymore damage. The man swung the ax at Gunn and he ducked as Angel wrestled the woman for the gun.

Another gunshot went off, this one inside Angel's stomach. He groaned, always having hated the feeling of getting show.

The man was surprisingly good at fighting. Gunn punched him to the ground, expecting him to stay down, but instead he jumped right up and swung again and again, only missing by mere inches at this point.

Faith yelled in pain when it hit her. There was a noise or a movement or something in her head that caused a tremor of pain and she didn't know how to react until she heard the voice.

_Kill the blond, _the voice said.

The first person Faith saw when she looked up was Spike and his blond hair. He was looking at Angel and Gunn's struggle, ready to jump in just in case they needed any help. She tried to resist it, but Faith felt her own arms reach around and pull her stake out of her back pocket and her feet taking slow steps forward. _What am I doing? _Faith's own voice in her head questioned. _I don't want to kill Spike._

She couldn't resist what the voice told her to do and she was nearing Spike. She wanted to cry out for help, begging for someone to stop her, but no one was looking, all preoccupied with what was happening with Angel and Gunn and she would kill him and she couldn't fight it and no one would understand and then-

The voice was Illyria. It had to be. Who else would it be? And she couldn't fight it.

Harmony was lucky. She turned just for a second to see how everyone was reacting to these crazy people. She saw Faith nearing Spike with a stake and she saw no one was close enough to stop Faith except for her.

"Blondie Bear!" Harmony yelled, unable to stop herself. She ran forward and pushed Spike out of the way just as Faith lifted the stake higher. "Stay away from him!" she yelled and kicked Faith.

_Kill the blond, _Connor/Illyria repeated, and Faith saw that Harmony was blond also. She picked herself right back up and jumped forward, stake still firm in her hand.

Faith tackled Harmony to the ground in one swift motion and raised the stake.

"Faith, no!" Spike shouted.

His shouts did nothing. The stake came flying down and hit Harmony right where it was supposed to. Her mouth opened wide, in shock. She didn't know stakes would hurt so much.

Faith dropped to the floor as the vampire turned to dust. Since "the blond," as Connor/Illyria had said, was gone, Faith was in control again and she fully registered what she did. She just killed Angel's secretary. She wasn't a good vampire, really, but she wasn't evil, either, and she didn't deserve to die.

Angel finally managed to knock the woman out and helped Gunn take the ax away from the man and knock him out as well. When they were done, they looked over and saw everyone staring at Faith sitting in a pile of dust. They realized there was one missing vampire from the room.

"No," Spike shook his head. "You bitch Slayer! What'd you do that for?!"

"Look it wasn't-" Faith started to explain but stopped when she felt something else happening to her. It wasn't like when Connor/Illyria spoke to her, instead it felt the same as when she went through the teleportation spell the first time. It was happening again. She was going back to Rome.

"Faith!" Angel tried to call but it was too late. She disappeared and fell into her own darkness as she was being brought back to Rome. Her last view of everybody was them staring at her as Angel ran towards her as if he knew what was happening. In that last line of sight, Faith decided what needed to be done because Connor/Illyria needed to be stopped and Connor didn't deserve to die and Willow might be able to help if they released Illyria, and she hoped Angel realized that too.

* * *

Willow finished the spell. She smiled as she did, knowing that it was easy, just as she knew it'd be. Everyone was gathered in the living room at this point, and they were waiting for Faith to arrive. Since she was coming back to Rome, it didn't take her as long as it took to send her to L.A.

Faith was sitting and breathing heavily when she arrived. She had sweat on her forehead and dust on her shirt. She looked like hell.

"Faith, what's going on?" Buffy hurried as she rushed to Faith. She wanted to know what was going on in L.A. and why she looked like she'd been through hell. Were things really that bad over there? "Tell us everything."

Andrew got her a glass of water and she sat for a minute, thinking about what she should actually tell all of them.

"There's kind of an emergency over there," she started to tell them. "Angel's not Angelus or anything like that, but his son is all messed up and it's affecting everyone around them. Look, as much as I'd _enjoy _explaining everything, there's no time. Willow, you have to send me back and you have to come with me."

"Wh-what?" Will stuttered. "Wh-why me? I mean, what are you talking about?"

"Look, Red, we may need some magic and you're the only one who could help."

"She can't go," Kennedy stepped up. "Not until we know what's going on, anyway."

"Trust me, there's no time," Faith argued. "If we don't go back there's a huge possibility that a bunch of people will die and then be taken over by an extremely powerful demon." They all gave her blank stares. "Okay, like I said, it's all pretty hard to explain. You just have to trust me on this."

"How powerful of magic are we talking here?" Willow posed, thinking about the dark side of her that could come out.

"Pretty powerful, I'm not gonna lie. It could save the world, though."

"_Could _save the world?" Buffy enunciated. "We can't just send her away on an off chance. Will she or will she not be able to save the world?"

Faith didn't know how to respond. She didn't know if Willow could really save the world because they had no idea if they'd really be able to freeze Illyria inside someone if they released her into another "shell." Also, Faith didn't even know if Angel and his friends expected to go through with that plan, considering how unlikely it seemed. At this point, she truly believed it was the right move, though, especially since she'd just killed Harmony, a vampire who, nonetheless, didn't deserve to die, and that made her realized that Connor didn't deserve to die either just because he was stuck with Illyria.

"We have to try," Faith said, avoiding the question.

"Willow can make her own decisions," Oz stood up for her. "What do you think, Will?"

Willow didn't know what to think. She had no idea what was going on and now Faith wanted her to do some powerful magic. That seemed like a recipe for disaster. What choice did she have, though, if she could try to save the world?

She shook her head, not believing what she was about to say. "I guess we'll just go and see if they do need me."

Faith grinned. "Then get another teleportation spell ready, Red."


	18. Chapter 18

Anne walked in to Angel's office after all the noise from whatever commotion was going on happened. When she walked in, she saw an unfamiliar man and woman unconscious on the floor, shattered glass across the floor, and everybody staring at a spot on the floor with the exception of Angel pacing around and shaking his head. What was going on? Anne was curious, but she almost didn't want to disrupt whatever was going on here.

The door to his office made a noise as it opened, though, causing everyone to turn to her. She stood exactly still, unsure of what to do. It was awkward just standing there while they all stared.

"I-I was just wondering what exactly was going on," Anne started. "I mean, I'm only just down the hall, and I heard a lot of commotion. I didn't mean to interrupt anything. You know, actually, I should just go. Sorry, sorry. I'll just leave."

"No, Anne, wait," Gunn stopped her. He stepped in front of her. "Look, there's, um, a lot going on here, I think. Actually, you know what, I'll tell you everything. We should get outta here."

Nobody stopped them as Gunn and Anne left the office. Nobody was really sure how to react to Harmony's death. They weren't terribly sad, really, but they weren't happy about the fact either.

Finally, Spike spoke.

"Why did she do that?" he asked. "I'm not sayin' Harm was the nicest vampire or the best fighter or even slightly not annoying, but she didn't deserve to die. Why would Faith do that and then just disappear? Is she back in Rome? She better be after what she did. She was trying to kill me, that was why Harm died."

"Spike, I don't think it was Faith," Angel defended her. "It was her body, but it wasn't her. It's all too coincidental."

"No doubt," Fred agreed. "These two people came in here and attacked us for no reason at the same time Faith acted out."

"Connor?" Wesley suggested.

"No," Angel shook his head. "This wasn't Connor. This was Illyria."

"Woo hoo, go geniuses, figure out the mystery," Lilah sarcastically cheered.

* * *

Faith was sitting back, resting for a little while until Willow was done getting the teleportation spell ready again. This time, it would take a little extra magic, seeing as she was going to be coming with Faith. She felt better knowing that Willow was coming with her and they might be able to stop Illyria and save Connor, even if Angel hadn't agreed to the plan to release Illyria yet. Still, they'd be prepared.

Buffy walked to Faith and sat next to her on the couch. She didn't say anything at first, didn't speak because she wasn't sure what she could say. There was a surfeit of questions and thoughts going through her mind that she just couldn't articulate. Where should she begin? She had so many things she wanted to say to Faith.

Everyone in the room was silent, not knowing what to say. For once, even Andrew was quiet, which was a bit of a shock. On the couch, Buffy couldn't keep quiet any longer, though.

"You can't go back to L.A.," Buffy told her slowly and quietly.

Faith turned to Buffy in the same calm manner. "What are you talking about, B?"

"You've clearly been through some insane stuff in L.A. You had your shot. It's my turn to go and see what's going on."

"Nope. Don't argue me on this, I'm going back."

"Faith, I can't just let you go with Willow and not know what's going on. This isn't about you; this is about all of us. I need to know what's going on."

"Look, we'll explain everything later. You don't need to be there, and I do. They have to know that what I did I didn't mean to do. I didn't mean to do that to Harmony."

Buffy frowned. "Harmony?"

"Yeah, she is—_was_—in L.A. working for Angel and all them." Faith stood up in front of Buffy to enunciate her point that she needed to go back to L.A. "You just can't go back, Buffy, I'm telling you. You don't know what's going on back there and if you and Willow were to go then there'd just be more confusion."

The truth was that Faith was right. Buffy didn't like that, though. She couldn't be right about this, she couldn't, not when Willow was going to possibly save the world and Angel was there, maybe in trouble and Spike was there still alive. She needed to go, and Faith was probably correct in the fact that Buffy going would just add to more confusion, but she wouldn't deny herself the fact that she wanted to go to L.A. It had been days, and she still had absolutely no idea why half of the world suddenly died and why part of Los Angeles was safe.

"Fine," Buffy said and stood up as well. "You can go, Faith. You do have business there, I understand. But I'm going too."

Now, everyone in the room turned to her. Was she serious? Would Buffy really just up and leave to go to L.A.?

"What?" Faith questioned.

"I'm going to L.A. too. Don't try to convince me otherwise, my mind is made up."

"What about me?" Dawn inquired. "You're just going to leave me here, all alone? And what about all the Slayers? Most of them are still angry, Buffy, still waiting to hear about L.A. and waiting to hear if they can go stake Angel for what happened."

"You won't be alone," Buffy told her sister. "You'll have Oz, Andrew, and Kennedy here. As for the Slayers, Kennedy, I'll need your help to watch over them all just in case. Would you mind?"

"No problem," Kennedy said, but wearily looked over to where Oz was standing. Would it really just be her, Oz, Andrew, and Dawn alone in this apartment? Even she knew that she and Oz nearly alone didn't seem like too much of a good idea. Things were just too awkward between them, and Kennedy didn't know how she'd react if Oz tried to talk to her about Willow. She was protective of her girlfriend, and she wasn't just suddenly about to let that go.

"Buffy, I-"

"Faith, you can't argue me on this. I need to go."

She wasn't sure how she felt about it. Faith figured that maybe it would be okay for Buffy to go, as long as she went as well, but still, there was a nagging feeling in her chest that this may cause confusion amongst Angel and Spike.

"Could you bring me with?" Buffy asked Willow. She nodded. "Good. Faith, I really don't mean to be taking control here, I just need to know what's going on, and it's about time I found out."

"No, it's fine," Faith said with little emotion, still not sure if she was 100% okay with the idea. "Do whatever you want. Just don't get in my way."

"You can't just let her talk to you like that," Kennedy spoke up. "Buffy, you're the boss here."

"No, she's right," Buffy agreed with Faith. "You're the one who's connected there, Faith. This is your operation; I'm just coming along to answer the questions I need answered."

Faith wouldn't disagree with that. It actually sounded perfect—Faith would be able to deal with her own business and Buffy would deal with her own.

* * *

Connor/Illyria left Wolfram & Hart. Because of the connection to Jack and Mandy, he knew that they had been temporarily…taken care of. Illyria didn't care long enough to wait for them to be better and turned around to walk away. There were more important things that could be dealt with.

Walking away, a thought appeared. Anyone who died, at this point, would be under Illyria's control. With an army, Illyria would have all the power that was needed to take Angel and his friends down.

That was what she wanted, wasn't it? To kill Angel. For a while she was distracted from the main goal and lost track of what she was doing, but now things would be different. Angel would die. Connor/Illyria would have an army behind them that could be easily controlled. There was no bad side to this situation. Angel would be no match against an army controlled by Illyria who was in control of Connor.

* * *

Everything was explained to Anne by Gunn and, boy, was it a lot of intense information. Gunn had to tell her about Connor and about Illyria and about everything that happened to the world and what has been happening and by the time Anne was all caught up, she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep up with these people. They clearly had a lot going on, and in some way she was a part of it now, but it was still a lot to take in. Trying to keep up with what was going on was purely exhausting. Gunn was lucky Anne was quick enough to follow what he was saying. She just had one question which, actually, was a common question amongst all of the people involved in this.

"Will you really be able to stop this Illyria from rising if you were to release her in a body?"

"That's the big question," Gunn told her. "We don't know. Not even Drogyn knows. I don't think we need to worry about that too much, though. I ain't got no idea if Angel's really considering releasing Illyria fully again."

"But he wouldn't be releasing her," Anne opinionated. "He would be putting her inside someone and saving his son and stopping her."

"If it works," Gunn added.

"And if it didn't?"

"Then Illyria would rise and most likely give all hell to the world."

Anne nodded, understanding. "So Angel hasn't decided what to do yet?"

"No, he should be soon, though. I really don't know what he'll choose. None of these options he have seem right, even the releasing Illyria one. I mean, think about it. Lilah—who is such a bad person she literally is in Hell most of the time—came up with the idea of stopping Illyria when she is undetected in the 'shells' system, before she's started to officially take control. Now, I don't trust Lilah—no one does. I feel like she has somethin' planned. Anyway, when Fred first got infected or whatever, sure, nobody knew about it for a little while, but that doesn't automatically mean Illyria will be weak enough to just be frozen in place."

"Didn't Drogyn say that was when she was at her weakest?"

"But we don't _know, _is what I'm saying. I mean, maybe it makes sense in a sort of messed up way, but maybe it doesn't at the same time."

"It's Angel's son. He has the right to make this decision, doesn't he?"

"I'm not sayin' he doesn't. I'm just hoping he thinks about how everyone else could be affected as well."

Silence fell upon the office. Neither knew what could be said in the moment anymore, now that everything was covered. Anne wasn't sure where she stood on the subject. Angel couldn't kill Connor, obviously. She pretty much knew what it was like for your own kids to die and…

She shouldn't go there. Not now.

She also understood what Gunn said Angel said about not wanting Connor to be in a constant fight with his own body 24/7. So what did that leave? Releasing Illyria? Anne couldn't say she was opposed to the idea, not that Angel would really care about her opinion enough to do what she said. She just thought that, even if it was just a possibility, saving Connor and stopping Illyria would be like killing two birds with one stone. If they really knew a witch so powerful, why did they doubt the idea that Illyria could be stopped at all? It didn't make much sense.

"We should get back to Angel and the others," Gunn suggested. "Whether you want to be or not, I think you're an official part of this now."

"Oh, Gunn," Anne said with a bright smile and a hint of sarcasm, "I wouldn't want it any other way."

* * *

Though everyone was still in Angel's office (except for Gunn and Anne still), everyone seemed to gather off to other places and with certain people. Angel and Spike kept together, going over to the man and woman and tying them up, waiting for them to awaken. Lorne and Drogyn were staying near each other, at the table, but neither was saying anything, not in the mood for conversation. Lorne was mourning Harmony, a vampire who did _not _deserve to die and a friend of his he'd grown fond of, and Drogyn wasn't really the talkative type. Lilah was in the back, by Angel's desk, messing with her incorporeal form by trying to pick things up and failing while at the same time keeping a secret eye on Wes and Fred (who gathered over by the window), although she wasn't sure why she watched them. There was nothing she could do, nothing she wanted to do, but she just couldn't deny how much she disliked the fact that Wesley finally had the "sweet", nothing-but-skin-and-bones Texan girl he'd longed for so long for.

"How are you feeling?" Fred asked Wesley.

"Tired," Wes admitted. "A lot has happened. All this information in my head is still bugging me, nagging at my skull, and now with this man and woman who attacked us and Faith killing Harmony and them all being controlled by Illyria—it's just too much all at once."

"I know what you mean," she said, taking his hand in hers. "We're good though, right? I just need to know how you feel. I need to know that even with all this craziness going on around us, we can stay strong, you can stay strong."

"I'm fine. Really, Fred, I am. I understand how you all feel, I truly do. I'm affected by what I did, and me alone at this point, so I need to cope with that. And I know you'll help me and be there for me every step of the way. You're an astounding person, Fred. You always were. You're what's going to pull me through this."

"You give me too much credit," Fred said, blushing.

"I love you. I know you know that. I want to be with you forever. I know that sounds like the beginning of some proposal speech, and it's not; I just want you to know I have absolutely no intention of leaving."

"Me neither."

They kissed. It was amazing. Fred felt the chills, the sparks she always felt when they kissed. And, as usual, when they pulled apart she found herself longing for more.

Off to the side, Gunn and Anne reentered the office. A few minutes after they did, the man started to wake up, although the woman stayed unconscious.

"What'd you do that for?" Angel questioned him, not wasting any time. He wanted to get to the bottom of this just to be absolutely sure that they were under the influence of Illyria. "Why did you come in here?"

"He…he did it." The man started to say. "Blue eyes. Such bright blue eyes."

"What did he do?" Spike now asked.

"There was a…a knife. And then darkness. Then he orders me around and I'm doing whatever he says. Oh, God, what happened?" The more the man spoke, the faster the words started coming out.

Angel knew, and so did everyone else. Connor/Illyria killed them both, the man and the woman, and discovered the power to control them. That wasn't good, obviously. Now that Illyria knew she could have control over anybody she killed, the standards were certainly more dangerous. Angel needed to stop this, and stop it now. The problem was: he still wasn't sure what to do with Connor. It was time to decide, though, and he needed to think.

* * *

Dawn, Andrew, Oz, and Kennedy were left alone after Buffy, Faith, and Willow left. At first, awkward silence ensued. Nobody knew what exactly could be said. They were all worried, but on top of that Oz and Kennedy had some extra awkwardness going on.

Oz had no idea how long they'd be gone, so he had no idea how much time he'd be spending with Kennedy. All he knew was that he still wanted to talk to her about him staying, because he was positive he was going to. It didn't matter what she thought of it, he just wanted to tell her and make it clear why exactly he was staying—not just for Willow or anything, but for Buffy also and the Slayers and everything insane going on in the world. They could use his help, and he was more than willing to do it.

Still, how could he explain that to Kennedy? He'd just have to hope she just understood.

Oz wanted to talk to her, but now wasn't the time, after they just left. He'd have to wait. That wasn't that big of a deal. It wasn't like he or Kennedy were going anywhere anytime soon.

* * *

As unexpected as it was, a semi-bright light appeared out of nowhere inside of Angel's office. It was in the middle of the room, near where Harmony died, and it was impossible not to notice. It died down soon enough, though, and Buffy, Faith, and Willow found themselves surrounded by kind of a large amount of people.

Spike saw Faith first and nearly grimaced. He knew she wasn't in control, but whatever, she killed Harmony. He didn't know he'd be this concerned about Harm's death. It was sad, just plain sad. And then he noticed Buffy.

Angel noticed her too.

"Hey guys," Faith tried to open coolly. "Look, first off you have to understand what happened. I wasn't in control, I wasn't-"

"We figured that out already," Lilah told her. "That's been the big drama over here, you killing Harmony."

"You killed Harmony?" Willow asked, clearly surprised.

"Buffy," Angel said, interrupting. He stepped forward. "It's good to see you." He paused. "You too, Willow. What-what are you guys doing here?"

Spike couldn't bring himself to step forward or talk to Buffy himself. This was the first time seeing her since his supposed "death."

"I decided to come," Buffy explained not to just Angel, but to everybody. "I thought maybe you guys could use some extra help with whatever is going on over here. Faith brought Will here, really."

"Why?" Angel directed the question towards Faith.

"Angel, what I did, it made me realize what we have to do. You can't kill Connor, I know that, we all know. And if he's fighting over control, then so many other people are in danger as well. The only way we can make a difference, Angel, is if we release Illyria and stop her inside the body like Lilah suggested and like Drogyn said might be possible."

"Faith, she's an Old One," Angel shook his head. "We don't know if freezing her inside the body before she took control would even work."

"W-wait," Willow stopped them. "That's why I'm here? You want me to stop an Old One from entering someone's body?"

"No, we'd want you to freeze Illyria and everything else inside of the person, including the person, in order to stop her from fully rising."

"Angel, I know a little bit about Old Ones," Willow said. "I don't know if that'll work or if I could even do that. That sounds like a lot and it sounds very dangerous and I can't use too much magic or, or-"

"Willow, I know. That's why I'd never ask you to do it."

"It's the only way," Faith argued.

"She's right, Angel, and you know it," Lilah said, stepping forward. "I don't know you, Willow, but if you're as powerful as they say you are, you'll be able to do it without a doubt. This will save the world, and Angel's son. And as I'm saying this I have no idea why I'm helping you people since you can't even seem to help yourselves."

"There's a risk," Angel defended himself.

"There's a risk no matter what!" Lilah responded. "There's always the chance that you won't be able to catch Connor to kill him or that you'll never have the opportunity to teach him to fight her. Releasing Illyria is the only true pure way to save your son and stop her once and for all."

Neither Buffy nor Willow knew who Lilah was, but that didn't matter. They were both essentially trying to keep up with all of the conversation, trying not to bud in. Buffy had no idea what to say or if she could even say anything to what was going on around them. For now, this was between Angel and his friends, not including her. In fact, she was pretty lost. Willow was too, except for the fact that she knew about the Old One she was supposed to freeze inside someone's body or something like that.

"Maybe she's right," Anne said, surprising everybody. She wasn't exactly a "main" part of their group, but she was being really sincere. "Angel sacrificed so much for Illyria to be stopped only to have his son ripped from his life. You deserve to have her gone forever and to have your son back into your life."

"Even if I agreed, there are still complications," Angel told them all. "Willow doesn't want to do the spell and nobody in this entire world would want to sacrifice themselves to be frozen with an Old One also frozen inside of them."

"I never said I wouldn't do it," Willow shrugged. "I mean, if-if I must, if it'll save the world, I will. I'll try."

Angel didn't know what to do. Were they right? Should he do this?

He looked around the room at his friends. They all looked sympathetic. They'd agree with his decisions because they loved him, and if they didn't agree they'd definitely tell him. He couldn't put it off any longer.

"Fine, maybe you're right." Angel spoke, shaking his head. "I guess we have to try, right? It might be the only true way to save Connor and make sure nobody else dies like Harmony." He took a second to think about Harmony and remember her. "If you guys agree, maybe releasing Illyria is the best chance we have."

Was he making the right choice? He wasn't so sure.


	19. Chapter 19

Most of the people in the room were gathered around Angel's desk, devising a plan. First off, they had to catch Connor/Illyria. Even if they had a plan to release Illyria into someone else and have the part of Illyria leave Connor's body, Angel felt the need to have Connor there, with him, just in case anything went wrong. If something did by chance go wrong, then Connor would be there for Angel and them to still try and save him. They started out by stating that if anyone were to actually catch Connor and capture him, it would be between Angel, Spike, Buffy, Faith, or Willow. Everyone else was human and would be easy targets for Illyria. So, they were thinking of a plan that would pit all of the strongest people against Connor/Illyria.

The only ones not really contributing to the plan were Buffy, Lorne, and Anne. Neither Lorne nor Anne really had any advice on fighting strategies, and Buffy was standing off to the side, still busy gathering all the information in her head about what exactly happened. She knew about Connor and Illyria now, obviously, but she still didn't know how this all started and why almost half the world died. Lilah wasn't adding anything to the plan either, really, but she was contributing with plenty of comments both sarcastic and realistic.

Eventually, Spike walked away from the group and made his way towards Buffy. He needed to speak to her and explain and everything. If he delayed it any longer, he'd feel like a coward.

He went and stood by her, but she didn't say anything. She barely even looked at him. Spike knew his heart would be beating rapidly right now, if it could.

"Hey, Slayer," Spike finally said to her. He didn't look at her, though, instead he kept his eyes on the others still working out their plan. Buffy did the same.

"Spike," Buffy greeted. She wasn't sure what to say. What could she possibly say to him? Apparently her mind and mouth weren't fully connected, because without truly knowing what she was saying she heard something coming from her own mouth. "I'm glad you're un-dead again. Thanks for the sacrifice. It's because of you we won."

"Nah," he waved it off. "You blokes would've won without me."

Buffy looked at him for pretty much the first time and he turned to her as well. "Why didn't you tell us you were alive? We all would've liked to know."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to say it, you know? It was a lot to take in. I thought I'd tell you in person and then one thing led to another and I was staying here, in L.A."

Before Buffy had a chance to respond, Angel spoke up again and looked over at Spike and Buffy. He wasn't listening to what they were talking about, clearly, but seeing them talking together made him nervous, and he wasn't sure why. Angel knew that he and Buffy couldn't be together, but in no universe did he want her with Spike.

"Angel?" Buffy questioned. "What is it?" Her voice brought him back down to earth and helped him remember what he was supposed to be saying.

"Sorry, um, well. We're going to split up and look for Connor. We'll have to fight and bring him back here to perform the spell. In order to do that, of course, there are still a few things we need." Angel looked at Drogyn. "We'll need Illyria's sarcophagus here for when we release her. I need to ask you if you'll go back to the Deeper Well and retrieve it for us."

"Of course," Drogyn agreed.

"We still don't have a body, though," Willow intervened. "We don't have anyone for Illyria to go in to."

"We'll figure that out later," Angel dismissed. "For now, Connor is our top priority. No matter what plan we decided to go with, we needed to bring him here anyway. Once he's here, we can figure everything else out."

"So what's the plan?" Gunn asked.

"We need to split up and search for Connor. I believe he'll be in the part of L.A. that's still alive, given what he did to that man and woman. Each team will take a different section. Buffy and I will go, Spike and Faith, and Willow and Gunn. Everyone else stays here just in case he comes back."

"Why don't I go with Buffy and you go with Faith," Spike suggested, not asking. "I wouldn't want you to be distracted and off your game," he faked consideration.

"Spike, I-"

"So what? Is it really that big a deal?"

Angel closed his eyes. He wanted to punch Spike. All Spike wanted to do was spend time with Buffy now that she was here. The worst part was, if Angel were to insist that he himself went with Buffy in search for Connor, it would be pretty obvious he just didn't want Spike spending time with her.

"Fine, whatever," Angel gave in. "We should get going."

"Should Faith really go?" Fred posed the question. "Illyria has power on her and could pit her against you guys."

"I'm going, and nothing will stop me from going," Faith fought. "I'm strong, I can fight her."

"But you couldn't last time," Fred countered. "I just don't want anybody else to get hurt like Harmony."

"She's right," Angel told Faith. "You should stay behind."

"I could come with you," Wesley suggested. "I could help."

"No offense, Wes, but are you sure? You're still dealing with the return of the memories. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be fine, Angel."

Fred gave Wes a hug and quick kiss and told him to get back soon and to be careful.

"Good luck," Anne wished Gunn and then gave him a hug. They both lingered while hugging, not wanting to move. When Anne finally pulled apart, she didn't like the feeling of being away.

Drogyn immediately left the office, going back to the Deeper Well to get Illyria. It placed the question in almost everyone's mind: How did he even get to L.A. in the first place and how would he get back? It was a question nobody had thought to ask in the moment.

Angel, Wesley, Spike, Buffy, Willow, and Gunn left too after grabbing some weapons. That left Faith, Fred, Lorne, Lilah, and Anne in the office.

"I don't like this one bit," Faith started pacing. "I should be out there, with them. I'm an experienced fighter."

"That's why they don't want you," Fred said. "Illyria could take advantage of you."

"Well, this is fun," Lorne weighed in sarcastically. "Does anybody else feel just a little bit doomed? I feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders."

Lilah chuckled. "Don't be so annoying, Lorne. Everyone feels that way, not just you."

"You're right," Lorne said. "Speaking of annoying, when are you going back to Hell? I really think you were better off there."

"Whenever I fulfill the mission, whatever that may be," Lilah said honestly.

"So you don't know? Great, just our luck."

"Hey, I didn't ask to come back here and spend time with all of you. I was just kind of chosen to be brought back here in an incorporeal form."

Anne actually felt bad for Lilah. She was dead and just couldn't seem to rest in peace. It was sad. At least other people, like the teens she took care of, were in peace right now. The thought brought sadness to her eyes, remembering the teens. They were just gone. She should've been there, should've tried to save them in some way. There was really nothing she could've done though, was there? That was what hurt her the most about their deaths.

* * *

Oz finished meditating. He was creating calmness in him and throughout his body, just in case. It was something he did to help control the wolf inside of him. It was something he felt like he needed to do in this case, just as a precaution. He needed to talk to Kennedy. He wasn't sure how great that would go, and he wanted to be calm so he wouldn't act out. He still remembered very clearly what happened when he found out about Willow and Tara. He felt better now, though, stronger, so he was sure that wouldn't happen again. But still, he meditated just to be sure. He needed to keep away from outstanding anger and pain.

After mediating, he went to find Kennedy. Dawn and Andrew went out, although he wasn't sure where they went, leaving him and Kennedy alone. When they left, Kennedy clearly didn't think it was a good idea, because she quickly retreated to her room. That was when Oz meditated.

The steps he took to the room felt way too large. Before he knew what was going on, he was there. Was he really sure about this? He had to be. He wanted to do this, to be on good terms with Kennedy, that was why he was in front of her door right now, standing there waiting for the right time to knock.

Suddenly the door opened and Kennedy attempted to walk out, but found herself bumping into Oz.

"Oops, sorry," she said hurriedly.

"It's fine," Oz said.

They stood in awkwardness for several seconds.

"I was just going to go to the Slayer school and see how the Slayers were, you know? So I guess I'll be back soon?"

"Wait," Oz stopped her from walking away. "I'm staying here. I'm going to be helping you all with the Slayers and everything."

Kennedy's eyes darted back and forth between Oz and just the space next to him. She wasn't sure how to react. Was he serious? He wanted to stay? Why couldn't he just go back to Tibet?

"This is about Willow, isn't it? Well, she doesn't love you, Oz, so move on."

"This isn't about her," he shook his head. "This is about me and staying because I want to."

"Whatever," Kennedy rolled her eyes and started walking away again. Oz stood still and heard the door slam shut behind her as she left.

_Well, that didn't go too bad, _Oz thought to himself.

* * *

"Anne seems nice," Willow told Gunn after walking around for a little while. They were going in an opposite direction from Spike and Buffy and Angel and Wesley. Gunn was mostly leading the way since Will was unfamiliar with any parts of L.A.

"Yeah, she's great," Gunn told her.

"Are you two, like, together?" Willow was searching for something for them to talk about so they wouldn't just walk along in awkward silence.

He chuckled. "No. Why would you think that?"

"I-I don't know. It doesn't take a witch to sense the attraction between you two." Gunn looked back at Willow and she smiled. "And that 'good luck' hug? There was definitely some kind of fireworks."

Gunn understood what she was saying. But still, him and Anne? He wasn't so sure. It wasn't that she was bad looking or was a bad person or anything, he just wasn't sure. He was opening up to her, though, and spending more and more time with her, so maybe one day? Wow, he really had no idea.

"Yeah, I don't know," he told Willow. "I mean, I definitely like her. She's a great person and is beautiful, obviously."

"Yeah," Willow agreed.

"I just never really thought about it before. Do you think-"

"Yes, she definitely likes you."

"Oh," Gunn responded innocently. He wasn't sure what to say, really. What could he say to that? For Anne to like him in that way, well, it'd be amazing. But things were way too complicated now, and there was no time for that stuff. Then again, Wes and Fred seemed to always make time for each other and spend any extra time they could together, so why couldn't he do that with somebody? Still, did he really want that? He didn't really know.

Besides, he knew he shouldn't be thinking about that now. They were searching for Connor. So that they'd all be able to get Connor, Willow did some magic so that they were all connected so that whenever someone found Connor, everyone else would just somehow know about it also. That way, everyone would know where to come and they could all fight Connor/Illyria together to have a fighting chance. It was a good plan, really. Six of them against Connor/Illyria was better than two. They just had to split up so that they could find Connor quickly before anything was done that would be dangerous.

"What about you?" Gunn questioned, trying to keep the conversation up so they wouldn't walk in silence. "You have a girlfriend?" he knew about Willow and her sexuality.

"Yeah, her name's Kennedy."

"You guys are serious?"

"I think so. I mean we love each other. I just don't want…anything to come between us."

"Well, I don't know about her, but you're clearly a great person and she'd be an idiot to let something come between the two of you."

"Thanks," Willow said. She was pretty glad she was searching for Connor with Gunn now.

* * *

Angel and Wes were checking their own area. By first sights, they weren't seeing anything. That was unfortunate. Angel wanted to find his son, needed to find him. It was killing him to have to wait this long to find him and get him back to Wolfram & Hart.

"Are you okay?" Wes asked.

"Sure," Angel said. "I just hope this all works out. If we don't catch Connor soon, who knows when we'll get another chance."

"I do too. But that's not what I was talking about. I meant about Spike being with Buffy right now."

"Oh. That." Angel didn't know what to say. He cared, but he didn't care. He was absolutely disgusted by the thought of Spike and Buffy, but it wasn't like he necessarily wanted to be with Buffy or anything. Sure, he cared for Buffy, he always would. They couldn't be together, though. Angel couldn't be with anyone. If he could be with anyone, why would he try and stop her from moving on? Maybe it was just the fact that her moving on could be with Spike. That was a terrible thought. "It's just whatever. I don't care."

"Sure, sure. It's just that I know how you feel. I mean, when Fred was with Gunn-"

"Wes, can we just stop talking about Buffy and all that stuff? There are more important things going on here."

Wes knew he struck a nerve on accident. He didn't mean to pry. He just hoped Angel was okay with everything that was going on.

Out of nowhere, Angel and Wesley knew where Connor was. Someone had found him and they knew because of the spell. Without so much as looking at each other, they began running in the same direction.

* * *

"Should we continue what we were talking about?" Spike asked Buffy.

"There's nothing to say, Spike," Buffy told him. "I understand."

"Did you mean what you said?"

Buffy sighed. She didn't want to talk about this now. It really wasn't the right time. They needed to focus on Connor/Illyria and be ready for when they spotted him or if anyone else spotted him.

"Do you really love me?" Spike hated the way he sounded, like he was begging, but it didn't matter. He needed to know.

"According to you, I don't," Buffy responded.

"Buffy, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to come back to Rome with you when this is all over? I will, I'm getting sick of L.A. anyway."

"Spike, look," Buffy hushed him.

He looked straight forward and saw what Buffy saw. There was a figure walking down the middle of the road. Spike could tell by the person's form that it was, without a doubt, Connor/Illyria. They had to stop him.

"Hey Illyria!" Spike yelled and the figure stopped. He turned around and looked at them. Spike and Buffy walked closer so they were only a few feet away from him. The pale moonlight and street lamps (since the electricity over in this part of town was okay and still working, but for how long?) were the only things illuminating Connor.

"Well, well, well," Connor/Illyria spoke, eyeing Spike. "I guess you weren't the blond Faith killed. What a shame." His eyes looked at Buffy. "I don't believe I've met you before."

"So this is an Old One?" Buffy questioned, almost tauntingly.

"Nope, not an Old One," Connor/Illyria corrected. "I'm only _part _of an Old One essentially mixed with a super being. I guess you haven't been caught up on all the events in the last few days."

"It's okay," Buffy said. "I don't need to be caught up to beat you."

Connor/Illyria laughed. "Wow, what makes you think you're so tough that you can beat me?"

"I'm the Slayer."

Connor/Illyria sighed. "Really? Another Slayer? Well, tell you what, I already fought a Slayer, and guess what? I killed her. Now she's under my control. I'll just do the same to you."

"Yeah? I'm not just _a_ Slayer, I'm _the _Slayer. What are you waiting for?" she pulled out a stake and Spike took a fighting stance next to her.

Footsteps banging against the ground appeared and out of nowhere came Angel and Wes, having been semi-close to Buffy and Spike, or at least closer than Willow and Gunn were. They stopped next to Buffy and Spike.

"Connor," Angel tried to talk. "Fight her."

"You don't understand," Illyria said. "Connor's gone, Angel. Well, he's almost gone. He's still there, still trying to fight. He won't win, though. I will win. I am the most powerful; me and only me!"

Connor/Illyria's eyes closed and suddenly the house lights around them turned on and plenty of front doors opened. People started coming out, marching, as if they were in the army. There was maybe two dozen surrounding them, only stopping a few feet away, most likely because Illyria ordered them to. Connor had the biggest grin on his face, but they all knew it wasn't because he wanted to be smiling. It was Illyria.

"They're all ready to kill you the second I order them too," Connor/Illyria said.

Angel cursed under his breath. They couldn't face all these people, not just them alone. They needed Willow, who would be able to work some magic and make it easier to get to Connor. Where was she? Angel hoped she'd get there soon.

"We're not afraid," Spike spoke up. "You really think we couldn't fight all these people?"

"Do you want to try?" Connor/Illyria countered.

It was like a tidal wave; suddenly everyone was moving and rushing towards Angel, Buffy, Spike, and Wesley. They were forced to fight. Nobody wanted to hurt these innocent people who were just in the wrong place, but what choice did they have? Illyria was controlling them, and they wanted Angel and everyone else dead. To survive, they had to kill to stop them, or else they kept coming back for more.

Buffy punched and kicked, avoiding using her stake the most she could.

Angel vamped out and punched and kicked as well, hoping his extra strength would come in handy.

Spike fought the best he could, but there were so many people attacking him at once it was overpowering.

All Wesley had was a sword, and he had no choice but use it sometimes.

Connor/Illyria stood off to the side, smiling.

Before things got too out of control, all of the people under Illyria's mind control suddenly seemed to stop in mid fight and fall to the ground, unconscious. Everyone else looked around, seeing that Willow and Gunn had arrived on the scene. Illyria felt the immense power coming from the one with red hair. She was a witch. That was nothing but bad news for Illyria.

"Sorry I'm late," Willow apologized and simply walked up alongside Angel, Buffy, Spike, and Wesley.

"Thanks for saving our asses," Spike thanked her.

"No," Connor/Illyria said. She tried and tried to control them and wake all the people back up, but it was failing. They were out cold. She didn't want to run, she wanted to stay and fight, but what choice did she have at this point? It was six against one. Sure, she was extremely powerful, but she wouldn't win against a witch who could knock everybody out as simple as that. This wasn't the time to fight. Not yet. She had to be strategic.

"We're going back to Wolfram & Hart," Angel told Illyria in his son's body.

Angel ran forward and, even though it hurt a little to do so, he punched Connor in the face and he fell to the ground. Angel felt a little guilty that it felt good to do that to Illyria. Spike came over and they dragged Connor/Illyria over for Willow to magically place handcuff-like things on Connor's wrists behind his back so that he wouldn't break free.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked her friend. Will was using a lot of magic, and Buffy wanted her to be safe.

"I'm fine," Willow said with a little worry in her voice. "I'm gonna be taking a break with the magic now for a while anyway, so I'm fine."

"Let's get back to Wolfram & Hart," Wes suggested.

They stepped over many unconscious bodies lying on the ground to get back to their destination.

* * *

Back at Wolfram & Hart, they knocked Connor/Illyria out. She was struggling the whole way here, and they thought making her unconscious would make things easier when it was time for the spell. Everyone, like usual, gathered in Angel's office.

"You guys seemed to capture him pretty easily," Lorne observed.

"Only thanks to Willow here," Gunn said and patted Willow on the back. She gave a shy smile. "She's really powerful."

"Drogyn's still not back," Angel said. "We can't do the spell quite yet."

"Not to mention the fact that we still don't have someone to put Illyria in," Lilah said.

"It shouldn't be just anyone. They'd have to agree to it," Fred broke in. "Maybe someone who's been…affected…by Illyria."

"You mean killed?" Faith asked quizzically. "As much as I'd love to be a human sacrifice, I don't think-"

"She's not suggesting you do it, Faith," Wesley stood up for Fred. "She's just saying that maybe there's someone who's been killed by Illyria that wouldn't mind helping us."

"You shouldn't have to look that far," Anne spoke up and shook her head. Everyone turned to look at her.

Gunn wasn't standing next to Anne at the moment, but she glanced at him and he looked into her eyes. And he saw. He knew what she was going to do. No. She wouldn't. She couldn't.

No!

"You can't. No," Gunn pleaded, tears forming in his eyes. He swallowed hard, and his throat hurt and his head and everything and it was all too much because she couldn't say what he thought she was going to say.

"I'll do it," she said, confirming Gunn's belief.

Everyone stared at her in silence and shock.


	20. Chapter 20

Connor/Illyria was awake and Illyria was keeping the eyes closed. Connor's ears took in everything they were saying. They had a plan, and that was to release Illyria. They were going to release Illyria into another body. That excited the Illyria inside Connor and she longed for the feeling to be connected fully to herself again. Of course, there was a catch that Illyria became aware of. They weren't just going to release her into a body; they wanted to freeze her inside someone to keep her from taking control.

That couldn't happen. It would be better to only be _some _of Illyria inside of a super being who could make everyone her slave than to be full but stuck inside a shell, unable to take control. That meant she needed to escape this place somehow, needed to fight. She tried calling to her "army" but there was no hope. When would they wake up?

It didn't click until she heard Faith's voice. The ones who brought her here were idiots. Okay, they didn't know she was awake, but they did know she could control Faith, didn't they? Oh well, their mistake could be her key to escaping. That is, if she needed to use Faith to escape. She just had to wait a little longer…

* * *

"Anne, no, you can't do that," Gunn immediately said. Anne had just said that she'd do it; she'd allow Illyria to enter her body and then allow Willow to lock everything inside of Anne and basically freeze Anne to trap Illyria. The thing was, Anne would be…what? Frozen? Not, like, ice-around-her-body frozen, but literally locked in place, right? And Anne would basically be dead. No. Anne didn't deserve to die, whether she was willing to or not. Gunn wouldn't allow that to happen, and he hoped Angel and Wes and Fred and everyone else wouldn't allow that either.

"Gunn, it's my choice," she tried to tell him.

"No, it's not!" He argued. "Look, you're upset. We all know that. You put your life into saving people and, well, not everything went as planned. Just because people you care about are gone, though, doesn't mean you should give your life. If anything, it means that you shouldn't take your life. You have to know how important life is now and that you can't just give it up."

"I wouldn't be just 'giving it up.' Gunn, everybody, I started the shelter to make a difference. I wanted to save lives, to keep teenagers from turning out pretty much like I did as a teen. Do you understand what I'd be doing if I let Illyria come inside me? I'd be making a _huge _difference, possibly saving the entire world. I don't see how that's a bad thing."

Gunn was ready to keep arguing. He was about to start yelling, too. She was being ridiculous. Before Gunn could continue, Angel interrupted.

"We don't have to decide anything now," he started. "We still have some time before Drogyn gets back."

"We can't let her do this," Gunn tried to continue.

"We don't know when Drogyn will be back," Angel ignored Gunn. What could he even say to Gunn? He didn't want Anne to give up her life. Of course he didn't. But it was her choice, wasn't it? Or maybe he shouldn't allow her to do it, anyway. He didn't know. Not yet. "We should all get some rest. It's been a long night. When Drogyn comes back, we'll get up again and discuss this more."

No one seemed to take in what Angel was saying. How could they possibly go to sleep, now, when they were so close to ending this thing with Connor once and for all?

Still, it wasn't like they could do anything while Drogyn was gone.

Wes and Fred were to first to leave the office, going to their own office. Lilah also left, saying she was going to go look around and maybe scare a few familiar faces (seeing as she couldn't really lay on anything to sleep, even if she could or wanted to sleep). Gunn and Anne then left. Angel had a feeling that they would continue their argument in another office.

Willow, Buffy, Faith, Spike, and Angel were left.

"Where should we go?" Willow asked.

"There are plenty of open offices," Angel suggested. "You guys could sleep in any ones you'd like."

Buffy gave him a small smile, and he found it hard to swallow. Buffy being here, so close yet again, yet so far, was taking its toll on him. It was making him stress out about Spike and her and it was bringing back so many memories of her. They used to be so…inseparable. She was the love of his life, and he her, and they thought it would always be that way. It hadn't, really, seeing as she fell into relationships with others such as Riley and Spike and Angel found his own love in Cordelia; but still, he couldn't deny the fact that Buffy was still…Buffy. There would always be something between them. Maybe.

She and Willow left. Angel found it easier to speak again.

"Faith, I have to ask you a favor."

"What's up?" Faith stepped forward. Angel felt thankful because he knew that Faith would be there and listen to what he had to say.

"We have to tie you up," he said.

"Angel, I like you, but not that much."

"What? No," he shook his head. "With Illyria here, she has control over you. When she wakes up…well, you're a danger. We can't have that here, not now, when we're so close. I hope you understand."

Faith shrugged. "I do. It makes sense, really. Spike can help me find ropes or chains or whatever, right Spike?"

"Whatever," Spike responded. And they left.

Angel was alone with Connor/Illyria. As Angel turned away, he didn't notice Connor's blue eyes open and a smile appear on his face.

* * *

Wes and Fred went back to Wes's office, where there was plenty of room. It was hard for both of them to think that just a while ago they both got attacked by memories of what truly happened in the past. It seemed like so long ago already. Now here they were; Wes was okay but not fully recovered and Fred was concerned about Wesley, yes, but also about Anne.

"What do you think about what Anne said?" she asked Wesley when they were in the office, alone.

"I think it's her decision," Wes answered neutrally.

"Oh, come on," Fred pushed. "Gunn thinks it's a terrible idea. What do you think? And don't be neutral."

Wes chuckled. "Well, if I was going to be honest, I wouldn't want her to do it either, on one hand. On the other, it's her choice, and if she believes that's how she wants to make a difference, then who would we be to stand in her way?"

"I guess you're right," Fred sighed. "She just seems like such a good person. It'd be sad to see her give her life for this."

"Not sad, necessarily. Maybe it'd be heroic and brave and none of us would ever forget her because of it."

"Well, still. There has to be someone else."

"If there is, we'll find out later. We should get some sleep, like Angel suggested."

"Yeah, maybe," Fred joked.

Wes and she kissed and then they lied down and tried to get some sleep. It wasn't coming easily, and they both lied awake for a little while, just talking. It was great to just lie back and talk. At a certain point, a comfortable silence ensued and Wes's eyes closed as he thought about the exhausting night. Fred fell asleep closely after.

* * *

Buffy and Willow decided to stick with each other and sleep in an office together. When they found one, it didn't take long for them to get situated. They didn't really have any choices other than sleep in a chair, on the floor, or on the desk.

"Well, this is fun," Buffy commented sarcastically.

"Could be a lot worse," Willow suggested. "We could have to hide out in Xander's basement again."

"Ah, yes," Buffy admitted. "It could get worse."

They attempted to make themselves comfortable on the floor. In reality, Willow probably could've used magic to create a bed in here, but Willow was wary and didn't want to use more magic for the night. As she got on the floor, she wondered about Rome. How were Kennedy, Oz, Dawn, and Andrew doing? More specifically: How were Kennedy and Oz doing? They hadn't exactly "made nice" when Willow left them, and she was starting to think maybe that wasn't such a good idea. She had a distant memory of Oz and Tara…Tara's scent…Oz wolfing out.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She shouldn't have left. If Oz wolfed out or if Kennedy got worked up…

Willow sighed. This wasn't fair.

"What's wrong?" Buffy noticed her best friend's distress.

"I'm worried," she responded openly. "Oz and Kennedy left alone, that's pretty much a, a recipe for disaster. I should've never come here."

"Willow, they need you here. If you hadn't been there to get rid of all those people Illyria had control over, who knows what would've happened. We could have lost. Maybe Illyria would have control over all of us, then. Who knows? And besides, Oz and Kennedy will be fine. They're not alone—Dawn and Andrew are there."

"But for how long? Eventually they'll be alone together and who knows what could happen."

"Will, we won't be gone for too long. Tomorrow that guy Drogyn comes back, you do the spell, and then we go back home. Everything will be fine."

"Yeah, but that seems too perfect. Something has to go bad, you know, just because. What if this plan doesn't work?"

Buffy stared up at the ceiling. "It has to work, Will. It has to."

* * *

"Oz, Kennedy, we're back," Dawn and Andrew announced as they made their way back into the apartment. They found Oz sitting on the couch, facing the TV, and flipping through many endless channels that weren't in English. It didn't seem like anything good was on in any language, anyway. It made sense nothing would be on, Dawn figured, given that half the world was gone. No more American TV shows, she supposed.

"Where's Kennedy?" Andrew asked, sort of collapsing on the couch next to Oz.

Oz scooted over, further from Andrew. "The Slayer School. Said she'd be back."

"Have you heard from Buffy? Has she called?" the excitement and nervousness in her voice was evident. She was worried about her sister.

He shook his head. "Sorry, Dawn."

The three sat in awkward silence, nobody knowing what else could be said.

* * *

Anne began to follow Gunn back to his office, but about halfway there started to wonder if that was such a good idea. Gunn seemed angry, and surely he wouldn't want her to sleep in there, so near to him. She should really go somewhere else; find a different office for her to fall asleep in.

Unfortunately, before she could really think more about leaving, they arrived. They both walked inside the office silently. Anne wasn't sure what to expect here. Was Gunn going to continue his argument as to why she shouldn't do it? Or was he going to drop it and just leave it for tomorrow? Either way, what was she going to do? Discuss it more with him or let it go for now?

"I don't want you to do it," Gunn spoke softly. "You already know that. I just don't think you should do it." He took a shaky breath. "It's your decision, though. And that's it. I don't think anything I could say would change your mind anyway. We should get some sleep."

"Gunn, I don't want it to be like that," Anne tried to talk to him. "Truthfully, I'm not sure if I'm, like, 100% sure about doing this. I think it'd be a great way to help, and that way we don't have to, I don't know, go out on the streets and ask a bunch of random people if they'd be willing to give up their lives for Illyria. This isn't just about me losing my kids or anything. I mean, maybe it is about them. I couldn't save them, so now I want to play a part in saving the world. I don't know. I don't know, Gunn. Maybe I will change my mind. Maybe I won't."

Gunn didn't know what to say to her. She could be right. It was her decision, like she had said.

Still.

He didn't want to lose her. With Willow earlier tonight, he might have just discovered that he had feelings for Anne. And now she was going to let Illyria inside of her. Just because he couldn't really see the reason behind her doing that, though, didn't mean that she didn't have a reason.

"I'll support you no matter what," he finally responded. "Or, I'll try."

Anne smiled. "Thank you, Gunn."

There was nothing else for either of them to say. Anne was faced with this decision now. She said she'd do it, but of course Angel and everyone would understand if tomorrow morning she told them never mind. She could still think about this for a little while longer. It wasn't set in stone. What did she really, _really _want to do, deep inside? What did she feel was right?

These questions she pondered kept her awake during the night.

* * *

Hours passed, with everyone asleep. Faith was tied up tightly so she couldn't get out, and Spike was staying nearby just in case. Back upstairs, Angel slept also, but in his desk chair rather than in his own actual room. He didn't want to leave just in case something happened up here, and he figured that with Illyria here, if she were to try something Angel would hear and wake up. Connor was still on the ground, hands behind his back placed there by the magical-like handcuffs placed by Willow that couldn't really seem to be broken.

With Angel finally asleep, though, Illyria tried more persistently to break free. It wasn't working. Those handcuffs or whatever Willow did were unbreakable.

Illyria groaned. Then she grinned. What would it be like, to have control over a witch? Would she be able to force the witch to do spells? It was something fun to think about, certainly. If Illyria were to have a witch like Willow in her army, things would certainly be easier. Maybe she'd add that to the list of objectives. Kill Willow.

First off, though, there were more…pressing…matters. She was trapped. She needed to escape.

It wasn't like Angel had tied Connor up or anything, it was just these handcuffs. That meant she could escape generally easy. Unfortunately, what good would it do her if she were to escape with her hands still locked in this positing? It wouldn't exactly be easy to gather an army like this. She needed Willow to drop the spell on these handcuffs so she could actually get out of here. The witch wasn't going to do that, though.

Or maybe she would. Illyria would just need some sort of leverage. That shouldn't be too hard to come by. Illyria looked over at sleeping Angel. What would happen if she killed a vampire, she wondered? Would he turn to dust and then come back to an un-dead life? Maybe she could try and find out.

After a few attempts, Illyria stood up. She could do anything now. She could run, she could _try _to attack; she could go after the witch. What did she think was smartest?

"I hope you're not planning on doing anything," a small voice near the door said.

Illyria turned over and saw a woman standing there, watching her. She hadn't noticed her before.

"Lilah," Illyria said quietly, trying not to wake Angel up.

"The one and only," Lilah stated almost proudly. "What do you think you're doing up?"

"I just want these handcuffs off."

"Yeah, the witch probably made them impossible to get off of you. That sucks. You're not going to be escaping from those any time soon."

_The witch. _Illyria smiled. She knew all of what Connor knew about this woman, and that wasn't that much, other than the fact that she was evil and dead. She also knew that Lilah was incorporeal, based on earlier.

"The boss isn't as stupid as I thought," Lilah continued. "Sure, he basically let you roam free, but you can't escape and going anywhere stuck like that would be pointless. He locked Faith up so even with you inside her head she wouldn't escape. And Spike told me I should keep an eye on things up here, just in case you did try something if you woke up. I figure that probably has something to do with Angel's orders."

"Where's the witch?" Illyria asked. "I need her to lift this spell."

"Good luck with that. If you move one step towards me or anywhere else I'll wake up everybody."

"You can come with me, Lilah. You could be a part of my army that'll very soon rule the world. It won't be that hard."

Lilah burst into laughter. "Do you realize who you're talking to? You do realize I'm dead, right? Plus, I'm here to stick with Angel and the goody-goodies, not run off. Since you're so adamant on escaping, though, I'll wake Angel and he can knock you out again."

At the sound of his name, Angel, still asleep, groaned.

Illyria cursed. She wasn't going to escape. She was stuck here. She tried to tap into Faith, but knew that Faith was basically locked up. Faith wasn't going to be escaping anything, no matter what.

"Fine," Illyria gave up. "I'm staying. I guess I have no choice."

Then Illyria felt something else playing with her mind, or Connor's mind, or whatever. There was another option, other than Faith. Actually, there were two options, two options that Angel had overlooked, two options that weren't knocked out because they weren't with Illyria at the time Willow knocked the whole army out. They were here, and Angel had made the stupid mistake of overlooking them. It was a stupid mistake to forget about the man and woman that Illyria sent in here at the same time she had Faith kill Harmony, but it was understandable. Angel was exhausted, wiped out mentally and physically, it almost made sense to forget about two unimportant people. But Illyria wasn't done yet. She tapped into the two peoples heads and sent them searching. This wouldn't be over yet. Illyria always had a few tricks up Connor's sleeve.

* * *

Kennedy arrived back at the apartment a little while later. She came back as slow as possible in order to avoid any more confrontation with Oz. Of course, just her luck, when she arrived back everyone was still up and awake and just sitting there.

"Hey Kennedy," both Dawn and Andrew greeted.

"Hi," Oz said quietly after Dawn and Andrew.

"Hi," she responded to them.

"How're the Slayers?" Andrew questioned.

"Oh, they're fine. Still a little angry, but they're okay."

Oz thought about their last conversation. She had gotten mad, maybe madder than she should have, and thought everything was about Willow. It wasn't about Willow. Why couldn't she see that? Oz had meditated again, but just thinking about their last conversation kind of got him angry. He didn't want to be angry.

He knew he couldn't get overly angry. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Kennedy found herself saying in Oz's direction. She wasn't really sure why she said it because she really wasn't sorry. But Oz was going to stay, wasn't he? She had to try and…get used to it, she supposed. For Willow.

With that, she walked away. Oz could tell that she didn't really mean the apology, so their problems weren't exactly solved. Still, they were closer to being friendly, in a way. They still had other issues to work out, of course.

"I don't remember ever hearing her apologize before," Andrew observed.

* * *

Jack, the man Illyria had control over, was staring at Faith and Spike. They were in an office with a large table and many chairs inside. Faith was tied to one of those chairs with plenty or rope, and Spike was sleeping in a different chair with his legs put up on the table. They were both definitely asleep.

In his mind, Jack knew he didn't want to do this. He was being forced to, though. The voice of Illyria in his head was telling him he _needed _to do this now.

He pulled out a knife he found around the building and slowly entered the room. A knife wouldn't kill Spike, if he were to awaken. Hopefully, if everything went as planned, he wouldn't wake up.

The plan was to get to Faith. If he could cut the ropes off without waking her up (because surely she'd then wake Spike up) then Illyria could get inside Faith's head and use her. It was no doubt that Faith would be better to use anyway, given her super strength. All he had to do was cut the ropes off of her. That was it. Such a simple task, yet so hard.

Could he do it?

He neared Faith as silently as he could, knife slightly raised at the same length as the ropes were tied to her. He stopped when he arrived behind her. He slowly bent down and placed the knife against the rope. He had to do this without waking her. He could do it.

He started cutting the rope. It wasn't easy to do, certainly not when he couldn't wake her up. He was doing it, though, and—wow, he was almost halfway done! But he couldn't cut this rope, and he didn't know why, so he started cutting harder and faster and it must've been too fast because he heard a gasp come from Faith's mouth.

She was awake.

He then began to cut at the rope as furiously as he could.

"Spike!" Faith called, immediately knowing that something was wrong; these ropes were being cut off behind her!

Spike jumped up and saw the ropes falling off around Faith and that the bloke from earlier was behind her, cutting the ropes.

At the same time, Illyria entered Faith's mind. Faith used her strength to break the rest of the rope off of her body and she stood up. Seeing Spike, Illyria told her to take out the stake that she had. Faith pulled it out.

"Faith, you can't do this. Don't let her get to you. Fight her." Spike tried to plead with her, to get her to take control. She had to, or else Spike knew that they were going to have to fight.

Faith couldn't fight her. She was going to do whatever Illyria wanted.

_Kill him, _Illyria ordered Faith. She was going to follow Illyria's orders whether she wanted to or not. Faith attacked.


	21. Chapter 21

Faith lunged at Spike. He dodged to the left, avoiding the desk to his right. Faith landed on a chair, grabbed it, spun around, and threw it at Spike. It hit him and caused him to fall to the ground. Faith wasted no time in running up to him before he could stand all the way up and punching him in the face. He fell back to the ground.

_Kill him,_ Illyria ordered.

She grabbed the collar to his shirt and pulled him up towards her. The sharp end of the stake in her hand was pointed at his chest and barely touching his skin, not quite enough to draw blood yet. All it would take was one push for her to kill him.

"Don't do it," Spike almost continued begging. "You can fight her, Faith."

Momentarily, Faith tried to fight, to take control again. It wasn't working, but Faith was thankfully strong enough to take control again for just a second, which was enough time to allow Spike to punch her with strength that sent her flying across the office. Behind him, the man, Jack, surged forward and tried to cut Spike's head with the knife. Spike punched the guy straight in the face, sending him flying backwards as well. When he hit his head, he was knocked out.

Faith tried to come back and attack Spike again. He managed to evade many of her attacks and get a few of his own punches in. She kept coming back, though, as if she was undefeatable and would stay that way.

Eventually he managed to kick her and she fell to the ground. He knocked the stake away, picked her up, and threw her on the table. There, he pinned both her arms on the table and kept her there.

_Get up, keep fighting, kill him! _Illyria practically screamed in Faith's head, making it hard to fight. Faith tried to kick and go crazy to escape Spike's grasp, but it wasn't working. He was holding her down and was not planning on letting her go. She kept trying to fight, though.

"Faith, bloody hell, stop it!" Spike tried to scream at her, but that wasn't working either. Spike didn't know what to do. He couldn't leave her, obviously. He needed to go wake the others and go stop Illyria and go do other thing to stop this, but there was just nothing he could do while she was being taken over like this. He needed to stop her for a while. He needed to knock her out like he did to that other bloke.

One of Faith's arms broke free from his grip. She quickly made a fist and punched Spike in the face, this time sending him sprawling backwards. She got up and advanced towards Spike. He stood up, wiped the blood away from his nose, and got ready to fight her some more.

"I'm gettin' real tired of you trying to kill me," Spike said, waiting to see if she'd attack first again. "I don't wanna have to hurt you, but I will."

Evidently, Faith wasn't going to be backing down.

* * *

The woman Illyria had control over, Mandy, was quietly scouring the building, peeking into offices and getting the layout of the entire area. More specifically, she was searching for the witch Willow, just like Illyria wanted. She wasn't finding the witch, at least not yet. She had to do it soon, though, because Illyria was rushing her because apparently she had control of Faith and who knew what would happen soon, anything was possible.

Finally, after searching many offices, she found the one with Willow and Buffy in it. They were both asleep. Good. Now that she knew where they were, Illyria knew too. Now that Illyria knew, she sent Mandy still searching around for all the others, just so Illyria would know where they were placed just in case. It would be fantastic to know where everyone was in case she wanted to find them.

She found the office with Anne and Gunn inside, both sleeping. Illyria thought for a millisecond about killing Anne, who was willing to have the rest of Illyria put inside of her, but then decided against it, for the moment. Willow was located, that was all that mattered right now. Illyria couldn't get out of Angel's office, though, not yet, not with Lilah still there.

Illyria was lucky that she was able to multitask like this, control so many people at once. It made everything a lot easier. And it didn't phase her one bit. She could fight with Faith and control Mandy (and even Jack, if he was awake) at the same time like it was nothing. It was magnificent.

Suddenly, off to the side, an elevator door opened. She looked over to see Drogyn, the watcher of the Deeper Well, enter. He was back already? Hadn't he been sent back to the Deeper Well to retrieve Illyria's sarcophagus? Well, where was it?

He was clearly headed straight to Angel's office. He was so distracted that he didn't see her. Illyria knew he was coming, though, and she also knew that he couldn't walk by the office and get Lilah and they both couldn't wake Angel and then wake everyone else. They had to stop him.

"Drogyn!" Illyria had the woman call as quietly as she could, yet loud enough where Drogyn would hear. She didn't want to wake anyone up, obviously.

Drogyn spun around in time to see her. He knew who she was, although couldn't remember her name. He wondered what she was doing up. It seemed everyone else was asleep.

"You should really be getting some sleep," Drogyn informed her.

"Did you bring it?" Illyria had the woman ask. "I mean, I know you were going back out to get that coffin thing or whatever that held Illyria. Did you get it?"

Drogyn looked behind him. He was generally close to Angel's office, and he should really get there and wake him up. There really wasn't time for conversing with other people, much less telling them about Illyria and the sarcophagus. If he wanted to get away from her sooner, though, maybe it'd just be easier to just answer her questions.

"I have retrieved the sarcophagus," he told her. "It is downstairs, in the lobby. I need to wake Angel so we can get it before-"

She raised her hand into a fist and punched Drogyn. It was unexpected, so unexpected he didn't have a single guard up. He fell to the ground like a bag of lead, simply knocked out. Illyria was glad that was so easy. She couldn't have Angel knowing her sarcophagus was back, at least not yet. Or maybe…maybe never.

Illyria made the woman go to the elevator. If her sarcophagus really was downstairs, she had to get rid of it before anyone else woke up.

* * *

Spike was thrown against the wall, causing a loud _bang _that seemed to shake the room. He cursed himself for choosing an office to tie Faith up in that was on a lower floor than where everyone else was because now they couldn't hear this fight. He was certainly a bloody idiot for making _that _decision.

Faith charged forward. He moved over just in time for her to knock herself into the wall just where he had been thrown into. She groaned, but jumped right back and threw herself at Spike.

She tackled him to the ground. He attempted to roll over or punch her or something, but she remained placed on top of him, using strength to hold him down and swing the occasional punch. Spike knew he needed to get away, needed to escape somehow, but he couldn't fight her.

No. He could fight her. He needed to fight her.

Almost miraculously, Spike managed to punch Faith in the face, which caused her to fall to the ground beside him. He got on top of her, pinned her down, and punched her again. Unfortunately, he almost felt bad doing this to her. Faith wasn't all that bad, and she didn't deserve this. It was a shame Illyria had taken over so much.

He swung at her again until finally, he managed to knock her out. She remained lying on the floor, unconscious after he stood. Now that this had happened, he knew he needed to get to Angel's office _now. _He turned and ran.

* * *

Lorne was in his own office, wide awake. It surprised him that anybody would be able to sleep after all the events of the past few days. Plus, Lorne was worried about Drogyn coming back and Anne doing what she was doing and it scared him that Illyria was actually in the building right now.

He wished they didn't have to go through this, any of this. Angel's own son was in so much danger of being forever trapped by Illyria. Angel himself was so stressed and worried about Connor. Gunn was now apparently a bit on edge, given what Anne was willing to do for the world. Plus, having Faith, Buffy, and Willow here added to some extra stress, even Lorne had to admit. Willow was absolutely necessary, though, considering whatever spell she was going to be doing to Anne (assuming Anne went through with what she said she'd do) and Lorne supposed it never hurt having two extra Slayers around. Unless, of course, one of those Slayers was constantly in danger of being taken over like Connor was by Illyria.

Oh, he couldn't wait until this was all over. Then Faith, Buffy, and Willow would go back home and everything would be semi-normal again. They would work at Wolfram & Hart and-

Would they stay here, at Wolfram & Hart? It wasn't like they had many clients left. Plus, most of this side of the world was gone, aside from some remaining people in L.A. When this was over, what would they do? Would they leave or stay in L.A.?

Thinking about all this made Lorne's head hurt a little. He made his way to his mini-refrigerator in his office and opened it up, looking for some water. It was empty. Of course it was. He'd forgotten. Everything food and drink was running out, Lorne knew, but nobody was paying attention to that. Everyone was way too focused Connor/Illyria and everything else and it wasn't like Angelcakes needed to be concerned with eating. It occurred to Lorne that there was so much food in grocery stores and empty homes that was now old and moldy. There had to still be plenty of okay food, though. They needed to get some. He'd need to talk to Angel or somebody about that if they were planning on sticking in Wolfram &Hart for another few days.

Lorne left his office, making his way towards the area that actually had a large refrigerator and small pantry in it. On his way, he was going to be passing by Angel's office, along with poor, poor, Harmonica's now empty desk. It made him sad. Harmony, she didn't deserve to die, really. There was so much that didn't deserve to happen, so much that it almost felt like Harm was just a casualty, and that made Lorne feel sick. She wasn't just a casualty. It seemed as if they had just breezed right over her death. He knew it wasn't intentional, sure. They had so much to work on and be worried about that they didn't really have time to mourn, but still. Maybe once all this was over they could properly mourn all those they'd lost, which, if everything went as planned, would be Anne also. Poor Anne.

Suddenly Lorne found himself tripping over something.

"Agh!" he cried as he hit his head on the floor. He turned to look at what he was tripping over, and gasped when he saw.

Drogyn was lying on the ground and he had a big bruise on the side of his face!

Lorne crawled over to him and was thankful when he saw he was still breathing. It was clear he wasn't just here sleeping, though. He'd been knocked out.

The elevator to the side made a dinging noise and someone came rushing out. Lorne turned and saw Spike was running this way.

"What's going on?" he asked Lorne.

"I don't know, I found him like this. He's breathing, so he's okay. Spike, what's going-"

"I gotta run," Spike brushed Lorne off and went running towards Angel's office.

* * *

Fred rolled over in her sleep and was awoken by the fact that Wes wasn't beside her any more. Slowly she creaked her eyes open and looked around her. Wesley wasn't lying next to her. Where was he?

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Fred sat up and looked around the office. In the darkness she saw Wes standing by a window, looking outside in silence.

He had woken up a few minutes ago from a nightmare. He dreamt he was back at the Hyperion, taking little baby Connor. But this time, Angel found him and, clearly, was very angry. Instead of _trying _to kill Wesley, he succeeded. And nobody else seemed to care. Angel, Gunn, Fred, Lorne, and Cordelia didn't care that he was gone. In fact, they were almost relieved.

But Wes woke up, and he knew it was a dream and he knew he shouldn't take it too seriously. He couldn't just lie there, though, and went to stand over by the window. He thought about the situation they were in and about the return of the memories. It seemed like such old news that the memories were back, and yet they still made Wesley think and feel bad.

"What are you doing up?" Fred whispered as she walked over to him. She placed her arms around him and he did the same, holding her. They looked out the window.

"Just a bad dream," he told her. They continued staring outside into the darkness that was the world. There were no lights on, and no brightness. It was like the entire world was dead…which, really, it kind of was. It was almost alien to think that part of the world was still alive. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"What's that?"

"I just think about the part of the world that's still alive and the part of L.A. that's still alive too. Right now, there are quite a few of those people lying in the middle of the road because Illyria has control over them."

"It's unlucky, huh?" Fred said. "Some people didn't die because of Illyria, and then she stormed in, killed them, and literally took control of their bodies."

"Will all those people be okay when Illyria is gone?" That was something Wes had been worried about for a while but never really brought up. When Illyria was all set and gone, would the people who had been killed by her, including Faith, be okay?

"As long as they don't have to play pawns in an Illyria army, I think they'll be fine," she weighed in. "We just have to hope so, I guess, just like we have to hope that Anne will be okay and that a spell will really trap Illyria inside of someone when she is indeed at her weakest inside the body."

Wes leaned in and kissed Fred. She happily kissed him back.

"You're extraordinary," Wes told her once they pulled apart.

Fred grinned. "I didn't do anything."

"Not true. You stuck by me when you really didn't have to. It probably would've been easier to pull away."

"Well, you stuck by me, didn't you? I was dying. But you stayed by me."

"I love you."

"I love you too." She paused. "Angel loves Connor so much. That's the determination that's going to help us save him. Like you all saved me."

Wesley wasn't entirely sure what to say. All they were doing at this point was hoping that their plan would work. Hopefully in the morning they'd get the answer.

* * *

"Angel, wake up," Spike practically yelled as he stormed into the office.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Lilah asked behind him. He wasn't slowing down for her, though.

Spike walked right up to Connor/Illyria and punched him in the face. He falling to the ground with a _thump _woke Angel up.

"Spike, what's going on?" he jumped up and made his way over to Spike standing over Connor/Illyria.

"I'll tell you what's goin' on," Spike went on angrily. "This bloody ponce just attacked me!"

"Spike, she's been here," Lilah said.

"Yeah, Spike. That's not possible." Angel agreed.

"Well, if you'd bloody listen before jumpin' in on what I'm sayin', maybe you'd understand. She used the freaking Slayer to attack me."

"Faith?!" Angel actually now seemed worried, which pissed Spike off. "What happened? I told you to tie her up."

Spike rolled his eyes. "I did. Illyria used that one guy to release her."

"One guy?" Angel was confused for a minute, but then he remembered the man and woman who came in here who Illyria killed. Man and _woman. _Where was she while the guy was releasing Faith?

"And that's not all," Spike continued. "Drogyn's knocked out outside."

_This _worried Angel. The other stuff was just Illyria trying to escape, but now what was going on? What happened to Drogyn?

He rushed out the door with Spike behind him. "Watch Illyria!" he called to Lilah.

Outside, Lorne was still kneeling by Drogyn. Angel and Spike came up. Angel asked Lorne what happened, but Lorne didn't know. He was just walking by when he found Drogyn lying on the ground with the bruise on his head. Angel kneeled down by him as well and began shaking him lightly, trying to wake him up.

Eventually, miraculously, Drogyn woke up.

"Drogyn, what happened?"

"I…there was…" Drogyn was having a rough time speaking, trying to collect all his memories of what happened. "A woman. The woman. She…" Something seemed to click in his head. "The sarcophagus. Downstairs! Go!"

Angel knew what he was trying to say. The woman, she knew the sarcophagus was downstairs, and that meant Illyria knew. Angel and Spike left Lorne and Drogyn and hurried to the elevator. They stood inside awkwardly, impatiently waiting for the elevator to get down to the lobby.

Finally the doors opened and they burst out. All it took was one quick glance around the lobby to know that the sarcophagus wasn't there anymore. It was gone.

"Damn!" Angel yelled. This was bad. This was really, really bad.

* * *

At the same time as things were heading downhill for Angel and everyone at Wolfram & Hart, Oz was going to talk with Kennedy some more. She had apologized, sure, but that wasn't the end of it.

When he walked into her room, he didn't have to say anything.

Kennedy sighed. "Look, I apologized, Oz. You're staying, I get it, whatever. Can we just not talk about it anymore? You have to know how uncomfortable it makes me."

"We could be seeing a lot more of each other. We should get used to it."

"Fine. What do you want to do? Some type of bonding? Do you want us to become, like, close friends or something?"

Oz shrugged wordlessly. Honestly, he wasn't even sure what he was doing here. Making amends?

"Well, no offense, but I'm fine just leaving things how they are," Kennedy told him.

Oz decided to respect that. He should just give it up and leave her alone. She didn't want to talk to him. That was fine. He turned and walked away. That was going to be it, wasn't it? She was okay with him staying, in a sort of messed up not really okay with it way. He was going to be staying.

That information really started to sink in as he walked away. He was going to be staying and helping with the Slayers.

* * *

Illyria sent one large surge of energy into Faith's mind, causing her to wake up. It was pretty easy, given that she hadn't been knocked out my magical powers like Willow used to knock the rest of her army out. Then, she started ordering her around. She'd bring her upstairs, to the floor that held Angel's office and where Drogyn and Lorne still were, plus everybody else still inside their offices. Illyria was going to escape, and Faith was her way out of here.


End file.
